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> World Environment Day (5th June, 2005)
History & Celebration:
World Environment Day (WED) falls each year on 5 June. It is a day when people
focus on the environment and it is celebrated in over 100 countries. World
Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972
to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
World Environment Day is created to promote
environmental issues to become active agents of sustainable and equitable
development. It promotes an understanding that communities are pivotal to
changing attitudes towards environmental issues and advocates partnership that
will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.
World Environment Day embodies this approach, raising awareness, encouraging
people to voice their thoughts and do their utmost to improve the environment.
By resolution 2994
(XXVII) of December 15, 1972, the General Assembly designated June 5 as World
Environment Day, to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve and enhance
the environment. That date was chosen because it was the opening day of the
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), which led
to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Twenty
years later, the Assembly convened UNCED in Rio de Janeiro, where nations came
together to take the decisions needed to rekindle the hopes of the 1972
Conference and to take up the challenges of a viable and equitable balance
between environment and development and a sustainable future for the earth and
its people.Source: United Nations Website: Observations
World Environment Day can be celebrated in many ways, including street rallies,
bicycles parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree
planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more. In many
countries, this annual event is used to enhance political attention and action.
