India-born scientist Asit Biswas was on Wednesday awarded the $150,000 Stockholm Water Prize for his "outstanding and multifaceted" contribution to the issue of global water resources.
The 67-year-old Canadian citizen is president of the Mexico City-based Third World Centre for Water Management.
Biswas helped foster a critical re-think among United Nations agencies, national governments, professional associations and others about how to improve delivery of water and sanitation services and management of the planet's water resources, The Stockholm International Water Institute, which administers the annual award, said.
Biswas, a tireless water proponent who constantly challenges the "status quo", has, through his multi-faceted roles as a scientist and educator, acted as an advisor and confidant to policymakers in water and environmental management in 17 countries.
Biswas fostered a new "socio-economic and political climate" that enabled translation of scientific (both natural and social) and technical advances into meaningful measures for people and planet.
He helped to formulate and promote the International Water Supply and Sanitation Decade in the 1980s which significantly improved the lives of millions of people in the developing world, it said.
Biswas is author of hundreds of books and articles and his work has been translated into 31 languages.
{{/usCountry}}Biswas is author of hundreds of books and articles and his work has been translated into 31 languages.
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