Pierre Fitter from Indian news channel News-X was given the TVEAP Environment Journalist Award (Electronic) at the inauguration of the CMS VATAVARAN, India’s premier Environment and Wildlife Film festival, which started on 27 October 2009.

This award is sponsored by TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) and is given to “an individual for excellence in environmental reporting that contributes to public awareness and understanding of environmental issues” in Indian broadcasting.

Pierre Fitter was selected for the 2009 award “for his insightful, analytical and fact finding stories focusing on diverse issues related to environment and climate change”.

The award was presented at the inauguration of CMS VATAVARAN by Dr Farooq Abdullah, the Indian Minister of New and Renewable Energy, and Nalaka Gunawardene, Director and CEO, TVEAP.

Pierre Fitter lives in Delhi where he reports on the environment and foreign affairs. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Socio-Legal Sciences and is studying for a Masters in Political Sciences. Pierre spent a year and a half in China and Russia, where he worked for AIESEC, an international youth leadership development organisation. While with AIESEC, he developed a deep interest in sustainable development and international relations and continues to report on these issues to this day. He has a special interest in environment and climate change in particular.

Aarti Dhar of The Hindu newspaper was adjudged as the Best Environment Journalist Award (Print).

Selection of these award winners was based on regular monitoring of Indian news and current affairs TV channels and newspapers by the CMS MediaLab.

Hailing the green movement initiated by CMS Vatavaran, Dr N Bhaskara Rao, Chairman of CMS, said at the inauguration: “CMS VATAVARAN is India’s model of mass mobilization on issues like climate change and other environmental issues involving national policies and behavioural changes.”

P N Vasanti, Director of CMS, said: "At CMS we are proud of Vatavaran that has become a movement to bring environment consciousness and initiatives to everyone including students, policy makers, housewives, teachers, civil society and media.”

Festival director, Alka Tomar, said: “This year the festival has seen participation of people from all walks of life and the huge turnout in each and every programme is testimony to the fact that this is a much needed platform and I am happy that we are offering wide range of deliberation forums. Undoubtedly, this festival will provide a space to people from all corners to come together and ponder over the alarming issues pertaining to climate change. Such festivals also encourage us to think about film as a potentially strong medium to communicate with the society.”

Senior Indian film maker Krishnendu Bose received the prestigious CMS-UNEP Prithvi Ratna Award “for his sustained and concerted efforts towards enhancing people’s understanding and spreading awareness on diverse environmental issues through films and documentaries”. This is the highest honour for wildlife and environmental film making in India.

CMS VATAVARAN is India’s premier biennial competitive and travelling Environment and Wildlife Film Festival. It was initiated in 2002 towards raising awareness about environmental issues. The CMS Environment Forum and CMS VATAVARAN have ushered in a fresh green global consciousness on an extraordinary scale using environment forums and films. CMS VATAVARAN is an initiative of Centre for Media Studies.