New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Wednesday named IAS officer Supriya Sahu as one of this year’s ‘Champions of the Earth’, the United Nations’ highest environmental honour.
Sahu, additional chief secretary in the Tamil Nadu government’s environment department, has been selected in the “Inspiration and Action” category for her “pioneering and long-standing work” on major environmental challenges in India. She will receive the award on Wednesday an event in Nairobi.
Throughout her 30-year career as a public servant, Sahu has worked closely on India’s biodiversity, while also witnessing first-hand the severe damage caused by irresponsible human behaviour.
“I saw animals eating plastic garbage and I realised that our planet is choking. That experience became transformational for me,” she says, recalling her time as the district collector of the Nilgiris.
In 2000, she launched “Operation Blue Mountain”, a first-of-its-kind campaign to eliminate single-use plastic in the district at a time when plastic pollution was barely discussed.
UNEP said this year’s laureates are among the leading global voices addressing the “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.
The Champions of the Earth award honours individuals, groups and organisations offering scalable solutions to these interconnected challenges.
In recent years, Sahu has introduced the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company, a not-for-profit focused on coastal resilience, and a series of projects to tackle urban heat and rising cooling demand.
One of the key initiatives, the Cool Roof Project, uses a simple method of painting roofs white in 200 public “green schools” to sharply reduce indoor temperatures and improve learning conditions.
Along with improving social housing and public buildings, Sahu has pushed major efforts to restore biodiversity and bring nature back into dense urban spaces.
She has led the planting of more than 100 million trees and the creation of 65 new reserve forests in Tamil Nadu.
Under her leadership, the state has doubled its mangrove cover, expanded its wetlands from one to 20, and launched the USD 60 million Endangered Species Conservation Fund.
UNEP also highlighted her recent work on sustainable cooling as a model for a warming world.
Established in 2005, the annual award recognises innovators and leaders driving transformative economic, political and social change, advancing environmental justice and defending natural resources.
