Word Cosmos | Vertiver is a design consultancy for conservation and climate action. We render the complexity of sustainability into achievability by employing branding, design and communications tools that creatively engage stakeholders on issues of environmental and social import.

Climate Change

The rate of increase of surface temperature of our planet has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. Immediate climate action is needed to reduce the GHG emissions we emit. Vertiver has been designing and developing engagement tools for scientific, policy and business sectors to communicate and facilitate uptake of climate change interventions.

Climate risks

Reduction of climate risks is one of the top priorities around the globe. In India alone, the loss of life and property due to extreme weather events has increased in the past 5 years. Vertiver's design and strategy work across smart agriculture, forestry, clean technology, governance and related initiatives to help raise awareness of these climate risks across the socio-political and economic value chain.

Climate Finance( here links to IORA's REDD + etc )

Funding from various sources that can enable climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Biodiversity Conservation

To truly conserve forest biodiversity and our natural ecosystems, a paradigm shift in the way we consume is needed. Designing new systems, processes and creating a lot of awareness are the only ways to get there. Vertiver has been a part of many forestry conservation projects in India for which we developed. We have also been working closely with the Ministry of Environment, Govt. of India for over four years on forestry-based communications.

Air Pollution

Pollution sucks - the joy away from our lives, the play away from children and the well being of our bodies. We created the Pollution Solution Now campaign to connect individual consumption to air pollution. Check out our pinterest page!

Forest Management

In a globe beset by CO2 overdose, forests are the lungs that will keep us alive. 1 in every 4 people depends on forests. Working closely with our partner IORA Ecological, we have played various strategic and design roles for enhancing, managing and protecting forest cover in India. We developed the Delhi Tree Map, as a guide for tree lovers to go hug their favourite trees!

Smart Agriculture

Humanity has worked on Smart Agriculture since the beginning of time, but today, with erratic rainfall, drop in soil fertility, water scarcity, etc. linking data-led crop science with efficient resource use and market linkages are key to achieving food security. Vertiver is working on smart agriculture with various organizations and helped shape design and strategy for FarmerZone, a cloud-based data platform by the DBT.

Sustainable Fisheries

Scientists predict a global collapse of ocean biodiversity due to overfishing. Studies say that by 2048, all species currently fished are likely to be extinct. Vertiver's work with USAID's Oceans and Fisheries Partnership project helped visualize various complex components of the fisheries value chain in the ASEAN countries towards traceability at all points in the supply chain.

Upcycling

The worth of unused items in Indian homes has reached a staggering Rs 78,300 crore according to a recent survey. Urban India produces 62 million tonnes of solid waste that finds its way to landfills. Upcycling converts existing material into a product of higher quality of value. Vertiver developed the REVERT initiative which took one of our advertising campaigns and converted flex into a range of lifestyle and accessory products.

Soil Erosion

A sad example on how soil erosion leads to tremendous damage is the mighty Brahmaputra. Because of deforestation in Arunachal Pradesh and the resulting soil erosion, there is nothing to stop the havoc that the river causes downstream in Assam and Bangladesh. We have worked on various projects on soil erosion across our work in forestry and climate action.

Consumerism

Who doesn't like some good old retail therapy? Well our oceans, biodiversity, soil, water systems, air, our well-being is who! There are so many enlightened artists, writers who have tried to warn us of the scourge of consumerism but with our lives so bereft of personal connections, we find therapy in acquiring goods. Consumerism is the scourge of the modern era and it will take a whole lot of mindfulness for us to combat it.

Flooding

Our work in Assam on designing for early warning systems and flood risk insurance told us about how dire the danger to life and property is flooding which is an outcome of climate change.

Carbon Sequestration

Capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and storing it into the ground (ideally) forever. Trees naturally sequester carbon. A 40-year old tree will have sequestered almost 1 ton of carbon dioxide into the ground.

Carbon Offsets

If you cut down all the trees in your backyard for a fancy swimming pool, you feel guilty. So you calculate the carbon that would have been sequestered by those trees in their entire lifetime and plant as many trees as would be required to ‘offset’ this footprint. (We hope you didn't REALLY do that!)

Green Economy

If the world is truly to be made of green economies, a radical redesign of everything including agriculture systems, products, manufacturing, education, health systems and many others will have to be done. Vertiver's work across various sectors supports the creation of green economy.

Wetlands

Wetlands are considered as 'wastelands' and this outlook is pushing us towards an unperceived ecological cricis. Vertiver has worked on the design and launch of The Redevelopment and Upgradation of Okhla Bird Sanctuary, a key area for biodiversity within Delhi's urban landscape.