jhon_award.jpg (8641 bytes)2000  Cse presented the Down To Earth-Joseph C John Award to the villages of Bhanota-Kolyala in Rajasthan in recognition of their outstanding efforts for regenerating the Arvari river. President of India K R Narayanan visited the villages to personally award the villagers with this prestigious award. Indian President KR Narayanan invited Anil Agarwal to address the governors of Indian states and senior Indian ministers, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, on the importance of community-based water harvesting as a solution for combating drought and land degradation. In the face of dire predictions about the impending water crisis, CSE organised a public lecture on January 6 to coincide with the release of the millennium issue of Down To Earth(Harvest of Hope) at which CSE director Anil Agarwal cited examples of outstanding community-level efforts that had brought about a dramatic change in the local ecology and economy. That year, CSE is the only Southern NGO to participate in the second World Water Forum in The Hague where it propagated the communitising of water resources. CSE also participated in CoP-6 meeting in The Hague in November, where it published Equity Watch, an influential newsletter that analysed climate change issues from a Southern perspective.

making.jpg Making Water Everybody's Business was released in several cities in South Asia. It received wide media coverage, helped generate awareness on water harvesting

2001 CSE's Green Rating Project (GRP) releases the environmental ratings of the Indian automobile sector. The findings were published in a comprehensive report, Mileage: Environmental Rating of the Indian Automobile sector. 26 of the 28 major automobile manufacturers voluntarily participated in the project. The "Life Cycle Assessment" approach that evaluated the companies' environmental management practices from the raw material stage to product disposal phase was used in rating this sector. CSE published Making Water Everybody's Business, a comprehensive resource for water planners and the general public that contains information on the policies, practices, and mobilisation strategies needed to start a movement on water harvesting. That same year, CSE also published Poles Apart, the second in the series of Global Environmental Reports (GEN-II).

2002 After several years of testing, the Anil Agarwal Air Pollution Model was launched by former Chief Justice B N Kirpal in December. The computer-based Model runs calculates all possible policy interventions, technical and administrative, to assess the possible impact on the air quality as a result of these actions. The Model takes stock of the current measures to combat vehicularanil_air_model.jpg pollution. The Model then charts an alternative course, showing that vehicular pollution can be purposefully tackled only if some hard decisions are taken. The same year CSE starts a new Rain Centre in Chennai. The Rain Centre, the first of its kind in India, includes a permanent exhibit of traditional and contemporary designs in rainwater harvesting. CSE's Global Environmental Governance unit publishes several editions of Equity Watch newsletter during the CoP-8 held in New Delhi. In order to increase its reach and further disseminate environment and sustainability information, CSE launched Down To Earth Web edition in May.