Meriel Watts may be unknown to the people of the endosulfan-hit villages of Kasaragod, but the campaign the New Zealander had run on their behalf for getting the highly toxic pesticide banned globally is familiar to anti-pesticide activists worldwide.

Ms. Watts and the organisation she is part of—Pesticides Action Network (PAN) International—played a big role in getting endosulfan added to the Stockholm Convention's list of banned substances in April last.