World Environment Day 2021: History, importance and why it is celebrated?
World Environment Day is observed on June 5 every year. The purpose of World Environment Day is to spread awareness about the threat to the environment due to rising pollution levels and climate change.
The first World Environment Day was observed in 1974, giving a global platform for inspiring positive change in the environment. The theme of the first World Environment Day was 'Only One Earth'. The United Nations designated June 5 to be observed as World Environment Day after a call for saving the environment from possible damage due to industrialization drew attention.
On this day, governments, NGOs and citizens put their efforts to spread awareness above the importance of conserving the environment and negate the impact of human activity on the environment.
The theme of 47th World Environment Day is Ecosystem Restoration as tackling climate change and the loss of species is crucial to the restoration of ecosystems. In 1987, the UN decided to rotate the host country for the celebrations of this day. Pakistan will act as the global host of the day in 2021 in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Amit Banka, founder and CEO of WeNaturalists said that turning to nature-based solutions and a nature-positive economy is the future. This can be done when there is a balance in the ecosystem and this can be done in many ways by planting trees and cleaning rivers and lakes.
“World Environment Day is a reminder for us to pause and reflect on our actions and their subsequent consequences on the planet. We are living in a world where averting our eyes from the climate crisis is not an option. That’s why public and private stakeholders are setting targets to reduce their carbon emissions. But it’s not enough, we need the world to come together. And there’s real merit in this,” he said.
Ecosystem restoration means undoing the damages caused to the environment by humans to save Earth.
