Earth5R At The Paris Peace Forum
Earth5R is the World’s largest Citizen-led Socio-Environmental organisation that creates Zero Waste communities while reducing poverty and restoring the local ecosystem. Earth5R is specialised in sustainable development, with a specific focus on women and economic inclusion.
The 5Rs of Earth5R refer to our 5 Earth values: Respect, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore. The mission is to drive a sustainable change by empowering communities through social entrepreneurship, and by building a model of Action, Collaboration and Transformation (ACT).
How the A.C.T. Global project was born
The idea of making citizens the pillars of Power was given by one of the core members and Project Coordinator of Earth5R -Miss Sonam Sengar.
The project took reality when Pune team of Earth5R started educating citizens on sustainable practices making them key stakeholder in the much-needed change. The team included Madhavi Ningaur, Shriyam Jalan, Sonam Senger and Saurabh Gupta. The Pune team successfully materialised the concept of the Citizen-led ACT initiative. The Vice-President and Head of R&D M. Arch Sustainability Architect Mrs Bharati Marathe Gupta started the first comprehensive waste management program.
The project further evolved in Powai, at Mumbai as ACT Powai. Project Coordinator Mr Ketul Patel rolled out the ACT Project in Powai- a small locality in Mumbai which became a living lab for the project which involved Clean-up activities, Environmental awareness programs and, plantation drives. It has positively impacted over 1,70,000 underprivileged families, providing them with training on Waste Management, Financial Literacy, and Waste to Wealth program.
The ACT project involves citizens in meeting needs and addressing sustainability issues that affect their local ecosystem. Collaborating with various stakeholders, the Earth5R team develops localised solutions that can be replicated globally. The success of the A.C.T. project and the dedication and enthusiasm of the members of Earth5R to positively change their community led to the selection of Earth5R to the very first edition of the Paris Peace Forum- An annual forum for ideas and initiatives on global governance, around the five themes- peace and security, the environment, development, new technologies and the inclusive economy.
The selection process
Earth5R was selected as a Project Leader from over 840 applications. It was one among 119 projects to be selected from all over the world and one of the 24 projects in the Environment Sector. Earth5R’s ACT Project was the only initiative which had citizen’s participation from conceptualisation to implementation of the project.
Earth5R at The Paris Peace Forum
At Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris where the Paris Peace Forum was held, Earth5R’s dedicated team shared the platform with 60 Heads of nations, various think tanks and international organisations from the world.
The enthusiastic team consisted of the Founder and Director: Saurabh Gupta, Vice-president R&D: Bharati Marathe Gupta and volunteer team.
The famous French progressive media outlet Konbini was invited as a guest. The team with immense motivation and passion put forth the vision of the Project to Hundreds of Institutions and other projects.
It was a great opportunity to be in the presence of Global Leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Global Leaders appreciate Earth5R’s ACT project
The President of Costa Rica Mr Carlos Alvarado, The former President of Fiji Mr Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and The Nobel Peace Laureate 2015, Ouided Bouchamaoui were astounded to understand this Project’s potential and level of expansion. The project gained attraction exponentially giving way to further developments in the form of potential partnerships and association with various international organisations like the expansion of the A.C.T to the African and Latin American States.
Earth5R’s mission for the Paris Peace Forum was to make World Leaders, Changemakers and international organisations aware of the strength and potential of citizens. Earth5R proved that an initiative with citizen volunteers at its centre can change the face of an entire community making it self-sufficient. The team is determined to take the A.C.T. model global, making cities, towns, villages and all ecosystems zero waste and free of poverty. While Earth5R works towards achieving the SDGs, the goal is to ACT together to make this world Zero Waste, Green and Sustainable.