Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be conferred the prestigious United Nations' Champions of the Earth award at a special ceremony in New Delhi on October 3, during the visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Modi shares the top environmental awareness award of the United Nations with French President Emmanuel Macron.
At the event, Kochi international airport, too, will receive a prize for entrepreneurial vision for its efforts at going completely solar powered.
T.S. Tirumurti, secretary (East) in the MEA, said that the award recognises the prime minister's efforts for championing the International Solar Alliance, new co-operations in environmental action and an unprecedented pledge to eliminate single use plastic by 2022.
C.K. Mishra, secretary in the ministry of environment, forests and climate change added that the honour recognises the cumulative efforts of the country towards environmental development.
He cited the Ujjwala scheme, which has successfully reduced dependency of food from forests, as a game changer. The increase in forest cover by one percent or 8,000 sqkm between 2014 and 2016 is another plus.
