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ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (APP):The Aga Khan University (AKU) on Tuesday hosted a media roundtable on environment and climate change storytelling that featured the acclaimed documentary series Voices from the Roof of the World (VRW) and the screening of the short documentary The Colour of Smog, followed by an exclusive preview of the series’ upcoming Season 4 trailer.
The roundtable brought together journalists, filmmakers, climate communicators and policy stakeholders to explore how documentary storytelling can deepen public understanding of climate change and strengthen environmental journalism in Pakistan, said a press release.
The session was followed by an in-depth panel discussion and Q&A with VRW Executive Producer and Emmy Award-winner Andrew Tkach, filmmaker and producer Jawad Sharif, director of The Colour of Smog, and Laila Naz Taj, Director of Communications, AKDN Pakistan.
Jawad Sharif said The Colour of Smog was created to bring emotion, art and human narratives into Pakistan’s climate conversation. “This story focuses on artists and is presented through their narratives,” Sharif explained. “It is an abstract and purely artistic concept, a journey that captures their feelings on smog, pollution and environmental degradation.”
The film blends sculptures, paintings, murals and other creative mediums that interpret the impacts of smog. Sharif emphasised that the issue remains “as relevant today as ever,” and must be taken up “at every possible forum.”
He added that children often do not know that clean air is their fundamental right, and hoped that the film would begin that conversation nationally. Sharif also disclosed that Punjab’s Environmental Protection Unit has approached him for collaboration, noting that awareness among children and youth is “one of the most powerful solutions.”
Voices from the Roof of the World is a regional climate documentary series produced by AKU in collaboration with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, the Aga Khan Foundation and the University of Central Asia. It brings to screen the stories of vulnerable communities in Central and South Asia’s high mountain regions, often overlooked yet central to global climate realities.
Andrew Tkach said VRW’s purpose is to create accessible, public-focused content that informs and empowers communities.
“We make these films as public documents,” he said. “The goal is to create awareness and knowledge that is free and easily accessible to all. This is especially important for children, who find visual storytelling engaging and relatable.”
Laila Naz Taj highlighted the importance of narrative-driven histories and character-based stories for building understanding of climate disasters over time.
Taj noted that Pakistan’s climate policy framework and National Adaptation Plan are “world-class documents.” The challenge, she stressed, lies not in policy formulation but in provincial-level implementation.
“We work at the ground and public level, which gives us tremendous motivation,” she added, noting ongoing collaborations with the Ministry of Climate Change and provincial authorities.
She added that the event underscored Pakistan’s increasingly severe air pollution, heatwaves and climate-linked health risks, and issues that demand both urgent policy focus and sustained public awareness.
Through artistic expression, powerful personal stories and community-focused journalism, she said VRW aims to build a deeper emotional and factual understanding of climate impacts across South and Central Asia.