PURPOSE: The United Nations designated 5 June as World Environment Day to highlight the protection and health of the environment as major issue; The degradation of the environment affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world. The celebration of this day provides us with an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment.
FORUM: “Land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience.” World Environment Day 2024. The theme will focus on land restoration among others to address the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. Since its first celebration in 1973, World Environment Day has been an occasion to raise awareness on environmental problems and to call for collaborative action across actors around the world. The 2024 edition will focus on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience, under the slogan “Our Land. Our Future". We are #GenerationRestoration”, as the year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Today, the future of our land is on the line. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population and threatening roughly half of global GDP (US$44 trillion). The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 per cent since 2000 – without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050. Land restoration is a key pillar of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This year, the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the UNCCD will also take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2 to 13 December 2024. At UNCCD COP16, the world will come together to aim towards scaling up ambition and investment to restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded lands by 2030, to have a collective agreement on how to tackle worsening droughts, to feed growing populations without converting more land or depleting our soils, and to deliver secure land rights for all in all parts of the world .Follow the Conversations with the hashtags: #5june, #WorldEnvironmentDay, #beatplasticpollution, #Environment.
EVENT: Join UNEP's official online celebrations
-TUE, 4 JUNE, 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM GMT+3 - KISS THE GROUND SCREENING AND YOUTH-LED DISCUSSION. Let's come together for a film screening of the short documentary Kiss the Ground and learn about a solution to climate change that is right under our feet: land restoration. The screening is followed by a discussion between Xiye Bastida (climate justice activist), Ayadi Mishra (UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Advisory Board member), Bruno Pozzi (UNEP's Deputy Director of the Ecosystems Division), Finian Makepeace (filmmaker Kiss the Ground) and Kartik Verma (representatives from the Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP). Register here.
-WEDNESDAY 5 JUNE 2024 AT 5:00PM GMT+3 - A MOMENT OF TRUTH: SPECIAL ADDRESS ON CLIMATE ACTION BY UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
On World Environment Day, UN Secretary-General will deliver a pivotal speech at the American Museum of Natural History with opening remarks by UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg and Museum President Sean M. Decatur. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres will set out some hard-hitting truths about the state of the climate, the grotesque risk leaders are running, and what companies and countries – particularly the G7 and the G20 – need to do over the next eighteen months to salvage humanity’s chances of a livable future. The Secretary-General will also share new data from the World Meteorological Organization and the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The Secretary-General will be joined by Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and Sean M. Decatur, President of the American Museum of Natural History.
On Wednesday, 05 June 2024 from 13:00 to 15:00 hrs ICT (GMT+7);Tune up to watch the FAO Webinar entitled ''Restoration for a better environment''. FAO, with the support of partner will celebrate the World Environment Day (WED).The relevance of restoring at least 100 million ha of landscapes through the RESULT ASIA (Restoring and Sustaining Landscapes Together Asia: A Regional Programmatic Framework for Forest and Landscape Restoration) via better coordination and collaboration will be discussed to address these crises. As a shining example of forest and landscape restoration and investor in innovative restoration solutions, the Korea Forest Service (KFS) along with partners will showcase the significance of promoting restoration and related value chains through innovations in the Asia and the Pacific region. The event will also see the launch of an information brief on the topic of sustainable wood supply and restoration in Asia and the Pacific.
STATEMENTS: Read the Statement of the United Nations Secretary-General on World Environment Day 2024; June 5th and the Statement from the UNEP Executive Director on World Environment Day 2024; June 5th.
PODCASTS: We are using the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to maintain our current way of life, and ecosystems cannot keep up with our demands. The gap between what we need to spend to adapt and what we are actually spending is widening. Estimated costs of adaptation continue to rise and could reach US$280-500 billion per year by 2050 for developing countries alone. Individuals and civil society must play a key role in raising awareness and urging governments and the private sector to make large-scale changes. Listen to the audio Podcasts!
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: “ Our Land. Our Future. We are #GenerationRestoration”; The 2024 campaign calls for collective, transformative action to halt land degradation. View the pratical Guide and Get the campaign materials!
WHY WE CELEBRATE THE DAY?
HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
PARTNERSHIPS
The World Environment Day aims to inspire more people than ever before to take action to prevent the growing strain on planet Earth's natural resources. The natural environment suffers, for example, from lack of precipitation for extended periods and uncontrolled land use, leading to desertification. It is estimated that one-third of the Earth’s surface and one-fifth of the world’s population are threatened by desertification. The WMO, therefore, directs its attention to the aspects of climate variability and change that impact the environment. The observational data of weather, climate and the atmosphere that are collected through the WMO networks of observing, data-transmitting and forecasting systems keep policy-makers informed of the state of the environment so that they are in a better position to prevent its further degradation and are used by used by the IPCC in its assessments of climate climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Together, let’s create systems to better reuse, reduce and recycle. Together, Let’s push for an ambitious global agreement to end plastic pollution. Together, Let’s demand governments and businesses act, commit and set new standards. Use your voice and your choice to beat plastic pollution; Let’s do better.
Thousands of people around the world used events and actions to build and share their Earth Action Number with the world.
Raise awareness about the protection and the conservation of the environment.
Talk about all issues concerning the environment.
Tackle the causes of climate change, and increasing our ability to adapt.
Work together to ensure nature is conserved, sustainably used, and restored.
Prevent, control, and manage pollution -whether its air, water, soil and land, marine and coastal, or chemicals and waste.
Organize activities to clean our environment.
Restore the environment.
The World Environment Day is co-organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the GAW Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), the UN-Water, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations Biodiversity, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the UN-Oceans the CITES Secretariat, the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor), the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFFF). With the collaboration of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Rivers International, the Ramsar Secretariat. With the participation of the United Nations Member States, the Civil Society Organizations, the Non-Governmental Organizations, the Activists, the Artivists, the Environmentalists, the biologists, the geologists, the Ecologists, the Climatologists, the Philanthropists, the Researchers and academics.