World Environment Day

World Environment Day is celebrated annually on 5 June and is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. First held in 1974, it has been a platform for raising awareness on environmental issues such as marine pollution, human overpopulation, global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.

History

World Environment Day was established in 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. The first World Environment Day was celebrated in 1974 with the theme “Only One Earth”. Since then, it has been hosted by different countries each year.

In 1987, the idea for rotating the center of these activities through selecting different host countries began. The host country for World Environment Day 2023 is Côte d’Ivoire.

Theme

Each year, World Environment Day is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The theme for 2023 is “Beat Plastic Pollution”. Some of the previous themes include:

• 2022: Only One Earth
• 2021: Ecosystem Restoration
• 2020: Time for Nature
• 2019: Beat Air Pollution
• 2018: Beat Plastic Pollution
• 2017: Connecting People to Nature
• 2016: Go Wild for Life (Zero tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife)

Significance

World Environment Day is a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually. Each year, the program provides a platform for businesses, non-government organizations, communities, governments and celebrities to advocate environmental causes.

The Day serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for the environment, galvanizing individual actions into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the planet.

Observance in India

India has been celebrating World Environment Day with great enthusiasm. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the nodal agency in India for celebrating World Environment Day.

Over the years, India has taken significant steps to protect its environment. Some of these include:

• National Green Tribunal: Established in 2010, it’s a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues.
• Swachh Bharat Mission: Launched in 2014, it’s a nation-wide campaign aimed at cleaning up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas.
• National Clean Air Program (NCAP): Launched in 2019, NCAP is a comprehensive pan-India air pollution abatement scheme for 102 cities.
• Renewable Energy: India has set an ambitious target to achieve 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.

Global Initiatives

World Environment Day is a part of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). UNEP is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

Other global initiatives related to World Environment Day include the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

World Environment Day is a reminder that we have only one Earth and it’s our responsibility to protect it. The day calls for urgent action to protect our environment and encourages everyone to be agents of change.