C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC)

C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC) is a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, established jointly by the Ministry and the
C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation. CPREEC has been set up to increase consciousness and knowledge about the environment and the major environmental problems facing the country today. It has been conducting a variety of programmes to spread awareness and interest among teachers, N.G.O’s, women and youth, on all aspects of the environment and ecology, with the purpose of promoting conservation of nature and natural resources.

CPREEC is the Nodal Agency for the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, for implementing the scheme of Environmental Orientation to School Education in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Tamilnadu and the union territory of Pondicherry.

CPREEC has set up offices in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for carrying out the programmes. The programmes are conducted for different stakeholders like teachers, students, lawyers, youth, N.G.O’s, women and others.

CPREEC’s areas of emphasis are
• Conservation and management of water resources
• Conservation of ecological heritage
• Conservation of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
• Women and Eco-development

CPREEC is the recipient of the prestigious Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar for 1996 in 2000.
The money received as prize was invested to give away the annual C.P.R Environmental Education Centre Award for Environmental Education to a teacher. So far, four teachers have been honoured

A node on “Conservation of Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites in India” has been set up at the CPREEC. ENVIS Centre has launched a website on Conservation of Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites in India to provide a decentralised system using a network of databases to ensure integration of national efforts in information collection, storage, retrieval and dissemination to all concerned. The website provides information relating to the Conservation of Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites in India. Databases have also been created on different subtopics such as Sacred Trees, Sacred Groves, Sacred Gardens, Sacred Animals, Sacred Mountains, Sacred Rivers, Sacred Water bodies and Sacred Precincts. The website can be browsed at http:// ecoheritage.cpreec.org and there is also a provision for queries in the website.

CPREEC generates resource materials for various programmes, as well as for use by the N.G.O’s, the government and other agencies. All resource materials required for the training programmes, etc. are printed in-house on paper made from bagasse, an agro waste and in 8 languages - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Oriya, Marathi and English.

CPREEC’s publication includes activity and information books and pamphlets for children, environmental training guides and kits for teachers, books for general reading, information and training, colourful and informative posters, ECONEWS - A quarterly newsletter and the Indian Journal of Environmental Education.