Green Hub, a collaborative initiative of North East Network (NEN), Guwahati and Dusty Foot Production (DFP), New Delhi, is the first youth and community based video documentation centre for recording the environment, wildlife and people’s biodiversity in the North East region (NER) of India. Green Hub aims to train the local youth in video and photography documentation in the area of environment and wildlife in the region. The vision of Green Hub is to create an alternative livelihood and interest for the youth of the area by linking them to projects related to environment after their training, as well as to create a resource hub and an archive of the biodiversity in the northeast. The NER is one of the biodiversity hotspot regions in the country, as well as the world. Everyday new species are being discovered and others disappearing. Video documentation is a very important tool in helping record the state of biodiversity in the region – not only to help create grounding for conservation, but also to archive what we may lose soon. In a region where violence and political conflict has ruled for the past 6 decades, the youth need new avenues to move away, to perceive the world differently and play a role in building their region back. The Green Hub Project- Vision:
To engage, and empower local youth and the community to conserve biodiversity in the NER innovatively, using the visual medium to renew and deepen the respect and understanding of nature and its resources. The project also aims to deepen the engagement with the preservation of natural resources, enabling young Green Hub Fellows to not only become more sensitized keepers of traditional knowledge systems, but also articulate spokespersons for the biodiversity and environment in the future; to reach out to the community, and connect organizations and groups working with conservation to form a web of learning, sharing, action and opportunity. The Green Hub seeks to strengthen and help further catalyze this change. At one level it will create a platform for young people in the Northeast to have new windows of learning and livelihood, and at the other level it will create a wider connect for positive action in the region. The Green Hub will be a KNOWLEDGE CENTRE for the region, and beyond.
