Goemkarponn desk
Panaji: Echoes of Earth, India’s greenest festival promoting sustainability and conservation through art, culture, and music, is set to debut in Goa in 2024.
‘Ensemble of the Wild: An Evening of Art, Culture, Music and Meaningful Conversations Around Conservation’ will be held on January 5, 2024, shining a spotlight on the endangered Western Ghats and conservation of local biodiversity of Goa.
Aligning with Goa’s environmentally conscious ethos and backed by the Goa Tourism Board, the event, to be held at the Panjim Gymkhana, Sunset Lawns, will highlight the ecological importance of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO-recognised biodiversity hotspot and deliver an amalgam of art, culture, music, and conservation with sustainability at its core.
Apart from showcasing art and music, the event programming will include pa
nel discussions featuring stalwarts in the field of conservation in Goa.
The first panel discussion is ‘Ecotourism: A Guardrail towards Protecting Goa’s Biodiversity – in association with the Goa State Biodiversity Board’ featuring Nirmal Kulkarni (Herpetologist | Wildlife Photographer | Artist), Rajendra Kerkar (General Secretary, Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan Goa|Goa State Wildlife Advisory Board |Goa State Biodiversity Board), Professor M.K Janarthanam (Phd, Chairperson of Goa State Research Foundation (Retired Senior Professor, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Goa University)
The discussion will be moderated by Pradip V. Sarmokadam, Member Secretary, Goa State Biodiversity Board.
Scheduled next is the second panel discussion on the topic ‘Tales from the Wild: Exploring Goa – A Western Ghats Wonderland – in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India)’ featuring Dr Nandini Velho, Project Lead, Canopy Collective and ORA India Fellow and Benhail Antao, wildlife rescuer and National Geographic show presenter at ‘Snakes SOS: Goa’s Wildest’. The discussion will be moderated by Aditya Kakodkar, Senior Coordinator, Marine Conservation.
Performances by an eclectic mix of talented musicians will take place from 8 pm onwards. The event will also host curated photo exhibits, upcycled art installations and a reading cove put together by the World Wildlife Fund-India and Goa State Biodiversity Board.
“Art, culture, music, and conservation hold immense potential as positive platforms for uniting people. Echoes of Earth aims to draw attention to ecological hotspots such as the Western Ghats, focusing on both music and active engagement with local communities. The festival has been organized in collaboration with the Goa Tourism Board as a joint initiative towards environmental awareness, fostering responsible tourism and resource conservation,” said Roshan Netalkar, Echoes of Earth founder and Festival director
Additionally, the Festival will collaborate with the Goa State Biodiversity Board, WWF-INDIA and Felis Films to celebrate and assist the efforts of local stakeholders in preserving the delicate biodiversity of the Western Ghats.
Echoes of Earth has scheduled a three-day festival for February in Chopdem, nestled in the coastal reaches of the Western Ghats, to celebrate the richness of the biodiversity hotspot on a larger scale.
