After having flown round the world for his “The Earth from Above” project, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, supported by BNP Paribas, decided he wanted to bring people closer together through the 6 Billion Others project. Its objectives are to create a sensitive, representative and respectful portrait of the people being interviewed, and to share in the hopes, fears, dreams and thoughts of each of them.

Thanks to the installation of sophisticated video equipment, the portraits and the personal accounts of a Brazilian worker, an Armenian mother, an Afghan fighter, a Russian shopkeeper, and hundreds of other individuals will mix with, respond to, or confront each other at a large-scale exhibition to be held at the “Grand Palais” in Paris from 10 January to 12 February 2009.

This exciting project is part of the corporate citizenship agenda of the Goodplanet association and of BNP Paribas, which are working to help create a more responsible world and one more respectful of the planet and of its inhabitants.

“We have a need for major initiatives that aim to open the eyes of as many people as possible to the environmental and social problems that confront us all. Only collective awareness and a concerted effort will produce the changes that are needed. It’s time to act. It’s too late to be a pessimist”, says Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

The “6 Billion Others” exhibition is pursuing this objective by encouraging people to discover and understand others, beyond the limits imposed by social and geographical boundaries.