How campaigns and storytelling are driving sustainability efforts in India

Air pollution obscures the Taj Mahal

Sustainability is unlikely to be New Zealanders’ first association with India. As a developing nation with a growing population, a focus on economy-building often comes at the expense of the environment. Air pollution is reported to result in more than one million deaths annually, over the past year India has fallen 13 places in the Climate Change Performance Index, and it is reported to be the biggest plastic polluter in the world, releasing approximately one fifth of global plastic emissions.

Yet despite these statistics, on the ground sustainability initiatives are making progress. Efforts across afforestation, wetland restoration and waste management from weddings to clean up drives are underway, actively seeking to curb some of the worst impacts of environmental degradation. These initiatives often draw upon storytelling and campaigns to foster wider buy-in while being driven or supported by the government. Here we take a closer look at three areas of sustainability programmes underway in India and consider what we can learn from them in New Zealand.

Ed Ped Maa Ke Naam (Plant for Mother) large-scale tree planting initiative in India

On 5 June 2024, World Environment Day, Prime Minister Modi launched the campaign, Ed Ped Maa Ke Naam. The call was for people – individuals, school students, government departments – across India to plant a tree for their mother, linking the life-giving force of both mothers and trees. In this way, reverence of one’s mother, which is of particular significance in Indian cultures, is linked to environmental duty, and, at scale, carbon sequestration.

While the total number of trees planted since the inception of Ed Ped Maa Ke Naam is unclear, the statistics reported during different parts of the campaign are impressive. During the period of July 2024 to October 2025 over 158 million trees were planted by schools across India.

Between 2001 and 2024, India lost approximately 2.31 million hectares of tree cover, representing a 7.1% decline

In July 2025, in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India with over 241 million residents, the government reported planting over 373 million saplings in one day as part of the campaign. Echoing Prime Minister Modi’s sentiments, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, commented on the meaning behind this monumental afforestation achievement: “This is not merely a number; it reflects our collective sensitivity, responsibility, and gratitude towards nature.”

The initiative echoes New Zealand’s ‘One Billion Trees’ programme, launched in 2018 with the ambition to plant one billion trees over a 10-year period. As of November 2025, just over 800 million have been planted.

Undoubtedly, part of the success of the Indian campaign was the storytelling behind it. In contrast to the New Zealand scheme which emphasised regional economic growth, the Indian initiative emphasised the personal and culturally significant connection (maternal – arboreal life-giving) between the actions (tree planting) and outcomes (climate action and green cover). This framing clearly resonated with the Indian population and motivated communities to commit to the campaign's goal with notable success.

To succeed, planting initiatives require buy-in from local communities

A growing body of research in narrative environmental communication shows that story-based messages can increase environmental awareness and strengthen intentions to act and can be more persuasive than statistics. For example, one recent study on responses to climate change messaging showed “narrative evokes strong emotions and leads to higher behavioural intentions and policy acceptance of climate change rather than logical information.”

Wetlands restoration

The restoration of wetlands is part of India’s aims to reduce total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 (somewhat later than other developing nations). India is a party to the Ramsar Convention, an international agreement which aims to halt the worldwide loss of wetlands and protect their biodiversity. India currently has 98 Ramsar sites covering a surface area of over 1.3 million hectares and has the largest network of Ramsar Wetlands in Asia. In contrast, New Zealand has just seven, covering a surface area of 67,586 hectares.

Wetlands near Vellayani Lake, South India (Image: Wiki Commons, Arthul RT)

In 2021, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change launched the ‘Wetlands of India Portal’, an online repository of data, and interactive maps of information related to wetlands across India. At the time of writing, there are a total of 1,315 wetlands right across the country. The purpose of the portal was to create a single point of access to all information relating to wetlands populated by each state (centralising data) for the use of government, stakeholders and students. It also supports citizen engagement with wetlands, for example, locals can become a ‘wetland mitra’ or wetland friend by uploading photos or be connected to volunteer initiatives.

The restoration of Lake Neela Hauz in Delhi is one example of a successful wetland project in India. (Photo credit: Wiki Commons, Pushpeshplant.10)

The restoration of Lake Neela Hauz in Delhi is one example of a successful wetland project in India. Increasing urbanisation turned the lake from a source of fresh water to a site of sewage and waste dumping, including construction materials. In 2012, local residents filed a ‘public interest litigation’ which required the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to address this dying ecosystem. The DDA, together with Delhi University and citizens, created a ‘constructed wetland system’ with aquatic plants to cleanse the lake. While restoration is far from complete, the wetland now converts around one million litres of sewage daily. This has lifted water quality, attracted the return of certain migratory birds, and turned the lake into a tourist attraction.

Although the Lake Neela Hauz example was community driven and compelled local authorities to act, researchers generally describe India’s wetland policy as predominantly top-down. At the same time, India has begun to foreground participatory language in its international message: in July 2025 at the Ramsar Conference of Parties meeting in Zimbabwe, India introduced and passed a resolution entitled ‘Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles for the Wise Use of Wetlands’ underscoring “the critical role of individual and societal choices in wetland conservation” and “promoting a ‘whole-of-society’ approach”. Environment minister Bhupender Yadav explained India’s focus on combining wetland conservation with sustainable livelihood needs, as opposed to an economy-environment trade-off: “Our approach combines strong policy frameworks with grassroots participation... Conservation cannot succeed without addressing livelihood needs.”

Waste management at weddings and clean up events

Waste management, with its environmental and public health ramifications, is a key challenge for India, and one compounded by urbanisation and a vast and growing population. In the year 2021, the daily waste produced in India’s cities and towns exceeded 160 thousand metric tons. At the same time, particularly since the advent of Covid-19, there has been a growing environmental consciousness around waste, reflected in social media content and a trend toward thrifting.

Approaches to waste management in the culturally significant wedding industry is an area where change is occurring. Estimates from 2019 place India as the world’s second biggest wedding market (behind the US) with around 10 million weddings taking place per year. When green advocates and Mumbai-based residents Ashwin Malwade and Nupur Agarwal decided to get married in 2020, they knew that a typical three-day wedding could produce around 2,300 kgs of waste. Unable to find a sustainability focused wedding planner they reverse engineered their own wedding to be zero waste to landfill and single use plastic-free. As a result, Ashwin and Nupur started their own sustainable events company, Greenyma, the same year, and are currently working on waste management for the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup.

India is home to some of the world's most polluted rivers (Photo credit: Wiki Commons, meg and rahul)

In sharing their origin story of finding love amid the very problem they seek to solve, Ashwin and Nupur demonstrate how personal narrative can make environmental advocacy more relatable and emotionally resonant, particularly when anchored to a culturally significant event like a wedding.

“While some people may consider Indian weddings as extravagant and wasteful a growing number of people are choosing to make their celebrations more sustainable, reducing food waste and eliminating single-use plastics. My observation is that eco-conscious practices are increasingly becoming the norm and sustainability is influencing everyday choices, with many people turning to ethically made clothing and products for daily use,” says Ashwin.

Water pollution due to domestic garbage in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (Photo credit: Wiki Commons, Adityamadhav83)

There are also organisations dedicated to responsible waste management practices in other parts of India. “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019,” Prime Minister Modi said when launching the nation-wide Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014. Government officials, Bollywood stars, sports people and NGOs joined cleanliness initiatives with awareness spread through social media, plays and music, and the hashtag #MyCleanIndia. Although a 2025 report shows mixed success from this initiative, it is indicative of efforts to foster a culture of sustainability and environmental awareness.

And there is evidence of similar citizen-led initiatives having a tangible impact. In 2016, environmentalist Pradeep Sangwan founded the Healing Himalayas Foundation, an NGO focused on cleaning up waste and promoting sustainable tourism in the Himalayan region. This foundation, which has also received endorsement from Prime Minister Modi, has carried out more than 1,000 clean-up drives, removed over 1,633 tonnes of waste, and established eight material recovery facilities in remote regions.

Sustainability from the ground up

Despite the massive task at hand, grassroots initiatives in India are having a tangible impact on the country's pollution issues (Photo credit: Wiki Commons, Ishita01)

While the broader environmental outlook in India continues to face large-scale challenges, these should not obscure significant progress in certain areas and the valuable lessons countries such as New Zealand can take from India’s sustainability successes and the centrality of campaigns and storytelling. As environment journalist Gopikrishna Warrier notes in a Ted Talk on why young Indians should tell environmental stories, “The story of [the] modern Indian environmental movement is itself built on stories.”

As New Zealand moves toward ratifying a free trade agreement with India, there is opportunity for more collaboration and for New Zealanders to learn from and about sustainability initiatives in India.

Perhaps the key insight is that success comes from ambitious targets, people-centred approaches anchored in storytelling with cultural resonance, government support and community-led projects which attempt to combine both economic and environmental aims. Such lessons are significant as both India and New Zealand navigate their sustainability transitions.

About the author

Dr Anita Perkins is a research consultant and government policy analyst based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), with a focus on international relations and Indigenous partnerships. She has represented New Zealand internationally on climate change and whale conservation and is a regular contributor of research and media articles for the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Anita holds a PhD in German, has lived in Japan and participated in Asia New Zealand Foundation Track II initiatives in Taiwan, Viet Nam and Indonesia.

The Foundation's Asia in Focus initiative publishes expert insights and analysis on issues across Asia, as well as New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the region.