World Environment Day - June 5

➡️ World Environment Day - June 5

World Environment Day is an annual event created by the United Nations in 1974 to foster global awareness and promote political action for the protection of nature and our environment.

This day of collective action also serves an opportunity for individuals, communities, and governments to come together and engage in activities that promote the well-being of our planet, such as tree planting, clean-up campaigns, and recycling drives. Now one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach, it has evolved into an important driver for real, impactful action.

The theme for 2024 is ecosystem protection - “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.” Our planet's ecosystems are under unsustainable pressure from deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, drought, and pollution. 40% of the planet’s land is now officially classed as degraded. This World Environment Day serves as a rallying call for the protection and revival of our precious ecosystems. We are on the cusp of passing a tipping point where damage becomes irreversible. With more than 50% of the planet's population now directly affected by ecosystem degradation, the time for action is now.

We must grow forests, revive water sources, rewild vast areas of land, bring soils back from the brink, and promote sustainable land management practices. We are the generation that can make peace with land. Ecosystem restoration supports many of the Sustainable Development Goals and is closely linked to other serious planetary issues such as air pollution and the plastics crisis.

Land degradation is also a large contributing factor in climate change. Humans have now significantly modified 70% of the Earths land surface through the expansion of infrastructure and agricultural systems. Arable lands and livestock grazing now covers one-third of Earth’s land surface and is responsible for the consumption of three-quarters of the world’s freshwater resources. This largescale transformation of land and habitat loss has also created a biodiversity crisis. Global wildlife populations have declined by 69% in the last 50 years.

High-level policy change is needed to prevent our planet from further exceeding its tipping points. Protests, campaigns, and informed voting puts pressure on politicians to take decisive action on important environmental issues.

As individuals we can take part in World Environment of Day by participating in local clean-ups in parks, beaches, and neighbourhoods, planting trees, rewilding our gardens spaces, reducing our consumption of plastic, donating to environmental organisations, making greener choices in our everyday lives, following our excellent environment Twitter list, and by sharing excellent resources such as our own on X, Instagram, and Facebook.

Small actions together make a huge impact, we have a collective responsibility to safeguard our planet for future generations to come.

“We are Generation Restoration. Together, let’s build a sustainable future for land, and for humanity” - UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Author: Rachael Mellor, 05.06.24 licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0

For further reading on World Environment Day see below ⬇️