Climate Narrative Hub - Updates

General
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Introducing the Climate Narrative Hub

This isn’t just another climate initiative.
This is a narrative intervention.
A ground-shifting, mind-resetting, story-first rebellion against climate apathy.

India’s climate story has been technical, distant, drowned in jargon and restricted to siloes. With the climate narrative hub, we want to make it mainstream.

We work with partners across India, across themes to build and shape narratives.

Here’s a glimpse of the things we do -

  • Narrative Sensing: We track what stories are landing and what needs to be heard louder.
  • Media Engagement: We power up journalists and platforms to tell climate stories that actually matter.
  • Capability Building: We train community orgs and changemakers to become storytelling powerhouses.
  • Digital Firepower: We fuel campaigns, collabs with creators, and push climate into your everyday scroll.
  • Art & Culture: We bring in artists, poets, performers, and folk creators to move hearts, not just minds.

Know more about the rest of our offerings here.

What we’ve been upto this month:

The Climate Narrative Hub is tackling one of India’s most emotionally charged climate challenges - human-wildlife conflict.

  1. Bengaluru Pilot: Coexisting with Elephants in Bannerghatta

In partnership with A Rocha India, we’re shifting how Bengaluru sees Bannerghatta — not just a zoo, but a 250+ sq. km. wild forest. Through Kannada content creators we’re reframing urban perspectives on coexistence. This video with renowned wildlife biologist Gowri Shankar has reached 150K views.

  1. Central India Narrative Shift

Building on insights from partners in the region, we dug deeper into understanding what the dominant narratives around human wildlife interactions in Central India are via a virtual convening. We mapped what stories, perceptions and voices dominate the way the issue is understood by communities and conservationists, what needs to change and how to reach audiences that matter with new narratives. Here are some of our key insights -

  • WhatsApp is the first responder: It is the primary and most immediate communication platform in villages, and the site of spreading both fear and useful information
  • Timing is critical: Messaging campaigns must align with harvest seasons where conflict sees an uptick
  • Messaging has a big role to play in building trust: CSOs and Forest departments need messaging help to build trust and open lines of communication with communities. Amplifying stories of champions within the forest department is key

Additionally, we also engaged with partners working on the intersection of Climate and Gender to co-design a storytelling fellowship to highlight the voices of women leaders at the forefront of building climate resilience in their communities. Look out for more on this in the coming months!

The Climate Narrative Hub is anchored by our founding partners, Dasra and Momentum Shifts.

We would love to collaborate on your next narrative campaign!

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What we’ve been upto in August

1. Human–Wildlife Interactions

As a pilot, we partnered with 5 Kannada creators (one more on the way!) to produce engaging Instagram reels highlighting the importance of the Bannerghatta National Park in Bengaluru—its biodiversity, its cultural significance, and the urgent need to protect it. The pilot has reached over 1.6 million views so far and continues. You can watch a few of these reels on our newly launched Bengaluru Instagram channel - Blr Talks. Follow us here on Instagram.

Building on this momentum, we’re exploring opportunities to expand similar storytelling initiatives with other conservation partners. If you’re an organization working in conservation in India, we’d love to speak with you!

2. Green Economy

Together with partners such as CEEW, we are developing fresh narratives around green entrepreneurship and innovation. By shaping this narrative, we aim to encourage greater participation, while also helping channel more capital into grassroots initiatives and India’s “next 100 cities,” beyond the usual hubs of Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai.

3. Hamari Maati Ki Kahaani: A Hindi WhatsApp Channel

To deepen citizen engagement on ecological and sustainability issues, we’ve launched Hamari Maati Ki Kahaani, a Hindi WhatsApp channel for rural audiences. The channel shares highly shareable posts on:

  • Waste and plastics
  • Natural farming practices
  • Connections between Indian culture and festivals with nature’s rhythms
  • And more…

Follow our Whatsapp channel here - हमारी माटी की कहानी 💚 | WhatsApp Channel

Feel free to share the posts with the communities you’re working with!

4. Tackling Invasive Species

As an initial exploration on invasive species, we engaged with Sayantan Bera, National editor, Mint, to publish a feature on the impact of invasive bees on India’s local ecosystems. Read here -

TL;DR: India’s honey boom is built on the exotic Apis mellifera and not a native bee species, but this shift has endangered native bees (Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, stingless bees), reducing biodiversity and threatening pollination systems vital for small farmers and subsistence farmers.

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**Our September updates are here!

1. Strengthening Rural and Climate Narratives in Madhya Pradesh

We recently signed a 3-year-long MOU with the Sustainable Development Initiative Association (or SDIA) in Madhya Pradesh to deepen the conversation around natural farming, agroecology, conservation, and the promotion of indigenous livelihoods. Together, we will work to create digital and ground-level narratives around local circular economies, the commons, migration, and amplify women’s leadership, ensuring that rural voices and climate solutions go hand in hand.

Know more about SDIA here.

2. Climate creators meetup

Last month, we convened our first-ever Climate Narrative Hub Creators’ Meet-up! We were joined by some of India’s most powerful voices in climate storytelling: Shivya Nath, Aalekh Kapoor, Nayana Premnath, Sanjivini Sharma and Shweta Kataria.

From what first drew them into climate content, to the challenges of reach and financial stability, our creators candidly addressed their motivations and narrative strategies. It was an extremely insightful 3 hours for the team. We plan to organize such creator meet-ups regularly. Do loop in or comment with your favourite climate creators.

3. Punjab floods media scan

We conducted a rapid scan of the media narratives (legacy national/ regional media and Instagram) on the recent Punjab floods. And the contrasts are striking. Who gets the spotlight? Where are the shadows? How are narratives shaping public perception? This is in no way comprehensive and just an early attempt, but it reveals how the media frames this crisis and what’s missing. Document capturing the insights here - MS - Punjab Floods 2025 Media Scan .pdf (305.8 KB)

4. Ongoing work on Human Wildlife Interaction Narratives

We collaborated with a popular rural Hindi creator in Madhya Pradesh named Hariya bhaiyya with a reach of 118K on Instagram, by creating multiple reels on the importance of coexistence of wildlife and farmers. The videos garnered 244K views across Instagram and Facebook and were shared by the forest department as well.

You can watch them here:

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What has CNH been upto in October?

1. We have partnered with NCNF

We’re excited to share that we’ve signed an MoU with the National Coalition for Natural Farming (NCNF), a 500+ member alliance with 6 state coalitions. Together, we’ll amplify farmer stories, share evidence-based practices, and strengthen advocacy for natural farming.

This is a big step for the Climate Narrative Hub toward making natural farming a mainstream narrative and building a resilient agricultural future.

Know more about NCNF.

2. We hosted our first CNH Meetup in Bengaluru

On Tuesday, October 28, CNH held its first meetup in Bengaluru, bringing together participants from civil society organizations, media, and design and consulting studios. More than 35 people joined the 3-hour session, where we shared the evolving concept of the hub and its offerings. The discussion also explored the themes participants want to see reflected in mainstream narratives and the challenges in shaping those stories.

We are coming to Delhi and Mumbai in November and December! Stay tuned.

3. Climate Narrative Hub storytelling workshops are on the way!

Starting November 4, we are launching a series of online workshops on climate storytelling and communications for an Indian audience. The first workshop of a 2-part series is slated for November 4 with Divya Narayanan on campaign strategy & advocacy. By the end of the session, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and frameworks to plan and run effective campaigns that influence change. The workshop will be conducted in a two part series of 90 minutes each.

For more details, refer here.

4. CNH has a Brain Trust

The Climate Narrative Hub has constituted a Brain Trust to support its thinking and progress. The Brain Trust is constituted of leaders from diverse backgrounds and industries to soundboard the progress of the Hub. The members are:

  • Ishita Srivastava (Frameworks Institute)

  • Mihir Shah (CEEW)

  • Kevin Lee (Yuvaa), and

  • Nidhi Jamwal (Independent Journalist).

We are grateful to each one of them for their commitment and offering their support to the Hub.

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