The process of producing and distributing TVE Asia Pacific’s educational TV series, The Greenbelt Reports, is showcased in a new book on environmental journalism in South Asia, due for release in January 2010.

The book, titled The Green Pen: Environmental Journalism in India and South Asia, is edited by two senior Indian journalists, Keya Acharya and Frederick Noronha. It is published by Sage, a globally operating company that specialises in bringing out academic and professional books.

Arranged in 10 sections, the book brings together contributions from three dozen journalists, broadcasters and film makers in South Asia. It opens with a foreword by Darryl D’Monte, one time editor of The Times of India and Chair,
Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI).

The chapter ‘Dispatches from the Frontline: Making of The Greenbelt Reports’ is co-authored by Nalaka Gunawardene, TVEAP Director/CEO, and Manori Wijesekera, Regional Programme Manager. They were script writer and series producer respectively of this Asian series released in December 2006.

In The Greenbelt Reports, TVEAP’s journalists and producers revisited coastal locations hardest hit by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004, to see if the disaster’s environmental lessons were being heeded.

Comprising 12 self-contained short films, each 5 minutes in duration, and one half hour documentary, the series looks at challenges in conserving Asia’s coastal greenbelts – coral reefs, mangroves and sand dunes – that offer protection from disasters and many economic benefits to coastal communities.

Additionally, the greenbelts can also buffer coastal areas from anticipated climate change impact.

TVE Asia Pacific launched The Greenbelt Reports in mid 2005. It is a multi-media, Asian educational project to journalistically investigate and report on efforts to balance conservation needs of coastal greenbelts with socio-economic needs of coastal communities.

The 12 stories in the first series came India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Using compelling images, interview clips and brief narration, each film tells the story of a community, activist group or researchers engaged in saving, restoring or regenerating a coastal greenbelt.

View titles and synopses of The Greenbelt Report – first series

In the book chapter, the series creators recall how the idea was conceived, information was researched and location filming was carried out. They also document the outreach and distribution of the films which continues to date, three years after their release. 

An accompanying text box is written by Pamudi Withanaarachchi, who filmed some of the stories in Sri Lanka and Indonesia as a then member of the TVEAP production team.

The chapter ends with a summary of TVEAP’s learnings from this regional media and educational exercise. (See box below)

“These stories were not about the Asian Tsunami itself, but they reflected a key lesson driven home by that mega-disaster,” says Nalaka Gunawardene. “In this series, we tried to amplify that message: the need to save or restore greenbelts across coastal Asia.”

The Greenbelt Reports was researched and produced in consultation with a large number of local, national and regional conservation organizations and research institutes. Among them: IUCN Asia, UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Mangrove Action Project, and Wetlands International.

The Greenbelt Reports received the financial or technical advisory support from several conservation organisations, development agencies and media companies. These include the Japan Fund for Global Environment and the Green Coast Project, administered by IUCN Sri Lanka and financed by Oxfam Novib. The Nation Broadcasting Corporation of Thailand was a co-producing partner for the three stories filmed in Thailand.

Photographs TVEAP Image Archive