The green is our cover: Kalki Koechlin

October 2012 will see India playing host to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the largest international forum on biodiversity, in Hyderabad. Here, India along with its global counterparts will pledge to protect biodiversity across the globe, which is somewhat of an irony given that over one million hectares of forest land stand to be destroyed from coal mining in just 13 coalfields in Central India.

In an effort to prevent the destruction of wildlife and forests, celebrities across India are partnering with Greenpeace and voicing their concerns.

Over the next few weeks, DNA will bring to you voices from the Hindi film industry sharing their thoughts on forests and biodiversity. This week, actress Kalki Koechlin speaks…

What are your first memories of a forest?
I grew up near Mudumalai, so we would often go trekking in the forest. I remember seeing bisons, bears, deer and elephants and learnt that they don’t harm you if you respect their environment and their rules. It’s amazing to see such powerful animals in such a peaceful state.

What do you really like about forests?
The fresh air; there’s no noise and no people. It’s beautiful because it’s unpolluted.

According to you, why is it important for every single citizen to contribute towards the safe keeping of our natural forests. What can you as a normal citizen do towards the same?
If we don’t safeguard our forests, our lives will get affected in so many ways. The animals will have nowhere to live thus coming into urban areas or dying. Without trees and an eco-system, our pollution levels go up and there will be more disease and less clean water. Every species is interdependent and we should not forget that we are at the end of the day, a species. We can all help by signing petitions to send to the government in order to protect forests. Even just raising awareness through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can help. Read up to find more on how you can do your bit to change things in this
country.