[Lifestyle] World Environment Day 2023: History, importance, and why it is celebrated

[CrimeBOSS]

The World Environment Day, hosted under the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), marks a day to raise awareness and action about the environmental catastrophes of the modern world.



The industrial revolution, growing urbanisation, and po[CENSORED]tion, as we know, have led to the steady disintegration of our natural world. As such, World Environment Day, hosted under the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), marks a day to raise awareness and action about the environmental catastrophes of the modern world. A major initiative of this day is to encourage people to live sustainable lifestyles. Held on June 5 each year, World Environment Day has a specific host country and a theme. For 2023, the host is the West African country of Côte d’Ivoire, in partnership with the Netherlands; while the theme is preventing plastic pollution. Under the hashtag #BeatPlasticPollution, the 45th World Environment Day with the same theme was also held under the leadership of India. This theme is an initiative to raise awareness about the production, use, disposal, and effects of plastic.

History 

In 1972, a conference held by the United Nations in Stockholm was the first UN conference which had the environment as its major agenda. It also recognised the right to live in a healthy environment as the basic right of any human being. The conference became a historic global effort to protect and conserve the environment, leading to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme. Moreover, this event also marked the formal declaration of a universal day for the environment – June 5. The UNEP, since then, has undertaken several global efforts in their endeavour to protect our natural world.



The first World  Environment Day was celebrated in 1973 with the theme “Only One Earth”. Since then, several pressing environmental themes have been undertaken. Some of these themes are’Only One Future for Our Children’ (1979), ‘A Tree for Peace’ (1986), ‘For Life on Earth – Save Our Seas’ (1998), ‘Connect with the World Wide Web of Life’ (2001), among many others.

Importance

From raising awareness about environmental issues to making significant changes in global environmental policies – UNEP’s World Environment Day has seen historic importance. With our depleting natural resources, highly politicised environmental approaches, and slow impactful plans, our world is on the verge of ecological collapse.
In the face of these environmental disasters, World Environment Day stands as a mouthpiece for several environmentalists. It is a day marking and reminding global citizens of the continuous negative impact of global warming and climate change. Loss of life, property, biodiversity, and even resources are just some of the effects of climate change as a result of environmental ignorance. World Environment Day, for over 50 years, has served as a platform for environmental activists to help common people understand and help our nature.