World Environment Day: What is it and why should you care?

It’s one month till World Environment Day!

 

Taking place every June 5th, the event is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and has been held every year since 1974.

 

Now, it is the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people around the world engaging to protect the planet.

 

Over 150 countries come together to inspire positive change, raise awareness, and celebrate environmental action. This includes governments, businesses, schools, celebrities, cities and communities.

 

The goal is to change their behaviour, locking in sustainable consumption and production behaviours for the decades to come.

 

Each year, World Environment Day is hosted by a different country where the official celebrations take place. This year it’s being held in Sweden.

 

The theme is Only One Earth and focuses on the importance of living sustainably in harmony with nature and the need to change to a greener lifestyle.

Events will take place around the globe, but the day will focus on showcasing some of Sweden’s pioneering work on the environment over the past 50 years.

 

UNEP will work with Sweden to showcase these innovations through a series of written stories and short videos that will be shared online (you can stay updated by visiting the World Environment Day website or following along on socials).

 

2022 is a significant milestone for the global environmental community. It marks 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, widely seen as the first-ever international meeting on the environment.

 

This Conference, which was held in Stockholm, spurred the formation of environmental ministries and agencies around the world and kickstarted a whole host of new global agreements to protect the environment collaboratively.

 

Simply put, it gave a way for countries to begin working together to solve climate change, deforestation, and other environmental issues.

 

It was also where the goals of poverty alleviation and environmental protection became linked, paving the way for the Sustainable Development Goals, and where the idea of World Environment Day first became formalised.

 

Since then, it has not only become a day for governments and organisations to come together on the environment, but also one to celebrate what progress has been made, and to look forward to the future with hope.

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