New York (PTI): Seven prominent artists, including an Indian, have been roped in by the United Nations as the world body feels that art can be a catalyst for environmental action.

Mia Hanak, Founding Executive Director of the Natural World Museum, which is co-sponsoring the events with UN in New York, said that: "art is a vehicle for environmental action and social change.

"Our collective goal is to ignite people's passion for being a part of the global solution and together inspiring people to take bold actions in finding new ways to embrace sustainable lifestyles."

The seminar and art exhibition on the theme are co-sponsored by the UN's Environment Programme and Department of Information, under the title, "art changing attitudes toward the environment."

Indian-born photographer Subhankar Banerjee, who has photographed the Arctic region over the past eight years, on Thursday said the area suffered from negative perceptions as a "hostile wasteland" and that its indigenous peoples had also suffered from intolerance.

"I hope that my work would help unlearn many of these intolerances against a whole part of our planet and our indigenous friends who call this home," Banerjee, an artist, educator and activist focussing on human rights issues, said.

The artists from different regions of the world are exhibiting photographs focusing on the environment at UN Headquarters in New York until the end of May.

The events are part of the Unlearning Intolerance Seminar which was initiated by the UN in 2004.