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I’m Jayesh Mevada - a researcher and social entrepreneur working in the environment, water, agriculture, and health sectors since 2014. Today I am labelled Ambassador of Kesar Seva (NGO), Member of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Founder of RevolteQ Technologies and MicroOPT, Director of Glimonn Research and a DST-Doctorate fellow at ICT, Mumbai. Through my work, I have received several prestigious national awards from the vice president of India, Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers. I consider myself a humble soul on a mission to unite humanity with nature.
Jayeshkumar Mevada - Indian, Asia and the Pacific
2020 Winner | Researcher and social entrepreneur | Indian
In India, water pollution adversely affects more than 50% of the population, most of which depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Every day, almost 13,500 million liters of industrial wastewater enters rivers and other water bodies with only a fraction of it adequately treated. Our combined approach of technology & community-level interventions has been adopted to address this. Worldwide, enzymatic processes are replacing many of the harsh and toxic chemicals in textile, paper, pharma and other chemical manufacturing. The major drawback is the cost of enzyme production. Working since 2015, we devised an affordable method to obtain enzymes, which would eliminate chemicals and significantly reduce loads on industries for effluent treatment. Our process reduces the cost of biocatalysts by five-fold, making biological processes an affordable alternative to toxic chemical processes, thereby significantly reducing water pollution at source and making river water more accessible and usable for other purposes. In parallel through my project with Kesar Seva, we plant medicinal plants and produce organic fertilizer helping more than 1000 farmers revive the fertility of their land. This program aims to impact one million farmers in the future with a vision to replicate this model throughout the nation.
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NOTE: This content was shared online for the 2019 cycle of the Young Champions of the Earth programme and has not been updated. This listing does not constitute any endorsement by nor status with the UN Environment Programme.
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Young Champions of the Earth is a forward-looking prize designed to breathe life into the ambitions of brilliant young environmentalists.