Director, Centre for Science and Environment, India

Sunita Narain has been with the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi (India) since 1982. She is currently the director of the Centre and the director of the Society for Environmental Communications and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. In her years at the Centre, she has worked hard at analysing and studying the relationship between environment and development and at creating public consciousness about the need for sustainable development. In 2005 the Centre was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize (2005) its work in “promoting effective water management along with improved human rights”. In the same year, she was also awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honours in the country, by the Government of India.
Ms. Narain’s research interests are wide-ranging - from global democracy, with a special focus on climate change, to the need for local democracy, within which she has worked both on forest-related resource management and water-related issues. She is an active participant, both nationally and internationally, in civil society. She serves on the boards of various organisations and on governmental committees and has spoken at many fora across the world on issues of her concern and expertise.