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Payal Sampat - Senior Fellow


Mining, Materials, Groundwater, Linguistic Diversity

English, French, Hindi, Marathi

Payal Sampat worked at the Worldwatch Institute from June 1997 to September 2002 and is now affiliated with the Institute as a research fellow. She is currently the international campaign director at the Mineral Policy Center in Washington, DC.

Before joining Worldwatch, Payal worked at the Global Development and Environment Institute in Boston, MA, and in her hometown of Bombay, India, at the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG). At the BEAG, Payal worked on environmental litigation cases that helped change coastal zone and land-use regulations in India.

Payal holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from the Urban and Environmental Policy Program at Tufts University. She received her Bachelor's degree in English from St. Xavier's College, Bombay.

  • “Scrapping Mining Dependence,” in State of the World 2003, W.W. Norton, 2003
  • “Last Words,” in World Watch, Vol. 14, No. 3, May/June 2001
  • Deep Trouble: The Hidden Threat of Groundwater Pollution, Worldwatch Paper 154, December 2000
  • Mind Over Matter: Recasting the Role of Materials in Our Lives, Worldwatch Paper144, December 1998 (with Gary Gardner)
  • Regular contributions to World Watch, State of the World, and Vital Signs

Payal has testified before U.S. Congress (Subcommittee on Health and the Environment) on improving access to safe drinking water around the world, has addressed the Brazilian Environment Ministry in Brasilia on groundwater pollution, participated in the mining caucus at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and has given talks at several universities in the United States and India.

Payal has appeared on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio, Voice of America, All India Radio, and NHK Television, and her work has been cited in over 1000 newspapers and wire services worldwide, including the Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Asahi Shimbun, Times of India, and O Globo (Brazil).