Environmental Discussion Forum

 

The seeds of our collective were sown on 5 June 2023 by three friends — Nirjesh, Gourav, and Pujan. The initiative, called the Environmental Discussion Forum, emerged in response to the growing incidence of heatwaves, rising temperatures, and the lack of spaces for critical conversations on nature and its politics. As graduate students of Environment and Development, we felt the need to act on environmental issues or at least start a discussion among our university peers.

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Burnt by Delhi’s searing summer sun and motivated by this urgency, we organized our first discussion. Posters were designed, emails circulated, and the forum came alive. Yet, under the pressures of our demanding academic program, the initiative paused after just two meetings. Still, the spark endured. Post-graduation, we realized that while our paths had shifted, our passion remained. On 9 July 2025, thirteen people from diverse disciplinary backgrounds gathered under a new name: Urban Nature Matters.

 

Urban Nature Matters

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Cities are often portrayed as concrete jungles, devoid of ecological value. This narrative erases the resilient life that persists within them: native shrubs sprouting in sidewalk cracks, dragonflies hovering over drains, migratory birds pausing at polluted wetlands. These forms of life survive largely unnoticed and underappreciated.

 

Equally overlooked are the human–nature interactions unfolding in such spaces: migrant workers resting in parks, children playing in overgrown lots, or people seeking shade under roadside trees. These everyday ecological encounters rarely influence environmental narratives. Nature is largely seen as the “green lungs” of the city but not in terms of how it is interacted with by the significant population that works in the city.

 

Urban Nature Matters was born in response to this twin problem:

 

1. The ecological invisibilization of cities and the wildlife forms within them.

2. The social inaccessibility of nature, where many communities remain excluded from environmental learning, conservation, and storytelling.

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What We Do

 

Urban Nature Matters is a shared, living space that brings together diverse voices, ideas, and actions around urban ecologies. Through inclusive education, storytelling, field engagement, and community-driven conservation, we strive to reconnect people with the natural world persisting in our cities.

 

Our focus areas:

 

1. Creating accessible resources and stories that celebrate urban biodiversity.

2. Documenting urban ecologies and everyday human–nature interactions.

3. Engaging communities through field walks, workshops, and campaigns.

4. Supporting grassroots efforts to restore and reimagine urban green spaces.