World Environment Day- 2023 #BeatPlasticPollution

World Environment Day – 2023

Blog Credit: Trupti Thakur

Image Courtesy: Google

 

Theme for the World Environment Day 2023 is under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution, ‘Ecosystem Restoration’. It is a reminder that people’s action on plastic matters as the material is slowly seeping into our oceans, soil and forest and causing irreparable damage.

 

Fifty years celebrating World Environment Day

Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and held annually on 5 June since 1973, World Environment Day is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world. In 2023, it is hosted by Côte D’Ivoire.

Why take part?

Time is running out, and nature is in emergency mode. To keep global warming below 1.5°C this century, we must halve annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Without action, exposure to air pollution beyond safe guidelines will increase by 50 per cent within the decade and plastic waste flowing into aquatic ecosystems will nearly triple by 2040.

We need urgent action to address these pressing issues.

Solutions to plastic Pollution

More than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 per cent is recycled.

An estimated 19-23 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers and seas annually. That is approximately the weight of 2,200 Eiffel Towers all together.

Microplastics-  tiny plastic particles up to 5mm in diameter – find their way into food, water and air. It is estimated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles per year –and many more if inhalation is considered.

Discarded or burnt single-use plastic harms human health and biodiversity and pollutes every ecosystem from mountain tops to the ocean floor.

With available science and solutions to tackle the problem, governments, companies and other stakeholders must scale up and speed actions to solve this crisis.

This underscores the importance of this World Environment Day in mobilizing transformative action from every corner of the world.

  

World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5 June and encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment. It is supported by many non-governmental organizations, businesses, and government entities, and represents the primary United Nations outreach day supporting the environment.

First held in 1973, it has been a platform for raising awareness on environmental issues as marine pollution, overpopulation, global warming, sustainable development and wildlife crime. World Environment day is a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually. Each year, the program has provided a theme and forum for businesses, non-government organizations, communities, governments and celebrities to advocate environmental causes.

History

World Environment Day was established in 1972 by the United Nations at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment 5–16 June 1972), that had resulted from discussions on the integration of human interactions and the environment. One year later, in 1973 the first WED was held with the theme “Only One Earth”.

Host cities

World Environment Day celebrations have been (and will be) hosted in the following cities:

Year	Theme	Host city
1972	Stockholm Conference on Human Environment	Stockholm,United Nations
1973		Geneva, Switzerland
1974	Only one Earth during Expo ’74	Spokane, United States
1975	Human Settlements	Dhaka, Bangladesh
1976	Water: Vital Resource for Life	Ontario, Canada
1977	Ozone Layer Environmental Concern; Lands Loss and Soil Degradation	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1978	Development Without Destruction	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1979	Only One Future for Our Children – Development Without Destruction	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1980	A New Challenge for the New Decade: Development Without Destruction	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1981	Ground Water; Toxic Chemicals in Human Food Chains	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1982	Ten Years After Stockholm (Renewal of Environmental Concerns)	Dhaka Bangladesh
1983	Managing and Disposing Hazardous Waste: Acid Rain and Energy	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1984	Desertification	Rajshahi, Bangladesh
1985	Youth: Population and the Environment	Islamabad Pakistan
1986	A Tree for Peace	Ontario Canada
1987	Environment and Shelter: More Than A Roof	Nairobi,  Kenya
1988	When People Put the Environment First, Development Will Last	Bangkok, Thailand
1989	Global Warming: Global Warning	Brussels, Belgium
1990	Children and the Environment	Mexico City, Mexico
1991	Climate Change. Need for Global Partnership	Stockholm, Sweden
1992	Only One Earth, Care and Share	Rio-de-Jenerio, Brazil
1993	Poverty and the Environment – Breaking the Vicious Circle	Beijing, People’s Republic of China
1994	One Earth One Family	London, United Kingdom
1995	We the Peoples: United for the Global Environment	Pretoria, South Africa
1996	Our Earth, Our Habitat, Our Home	Istanbul, Turkey
1997	For Life on Earth	Seoul, Republic of Korea
1998	For Life on Earth – Save Our Seas	Moscow, Russian Federation.
1999	Our Earth – Our Future – Just Save It!	Tokyo, Japan
2000	The Environment Millennium – Time to Act	Adelaide, Australia
2001	Connect with the World Wide Web of Life	Torino, Italy and Havana, Cuba
2002	Give Earth a Chance	Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
2003	Water – Two Billion People are Dying for It!	Beirut, Lebanon
2004	Wanted! Seas and Oceans – Dead or Alive?	Barcelona, Spain
2005	Green Cities – Plant for the Planet!	San Francisco, United States
2006	Deserts and Desertification – Don’t Desert Drylands!	Algiers, Algeria
2007	Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?	London, England
2008	Kick The Habit – Towards A Low Carbon Economy	Wellington, New Zealand
2009	Your Planet Needs You – Unite to Combat Climate Change	Mexico City, Mexico
2010	Many Species. One Planet. One Future	Rangpur, Bangladesh.
2011	Forests: Nature at your Service	Delhi, India
2012	Green Economy: Does it include you?	Brasilia, Brazil
2013	Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint	Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2014	Raise your voice, not the sea level	Bridgetown, Barbados
2015	Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.	Rome, Italy
2016	Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife trade	Luanda, Angola
2017	Connecting People to Nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator	Ottawa, Canada
2018	Beat Plastic Pollution	New Delhi, India
2019	Beat Air Pollution	People’s Republic of China
2020	Time for Nature	Colombia
2021	Ecosystem Restoration	Pakistan
2022	Only One Earth	Sweden
2023	Solutions to Plastic Pollution	Côte d’Ivoire

Annual themes and major initiatives and accomplishments

For almost five decades, World Environment Day has been raising awareness, supporting action, and driving changes for the environment. Here is a timeline of key accomplishments in WEDs’ history:

2005

Standard WED banners hung in San Francisco in May 2005

The theme for the 2005 World Environment Day was “Green Cities” and the slogan was “Plant for the Planet!

2006

The topic for WED 2006 was Deserts and Desertification and the slogan was “Don’t desert drylands”

The slogan emphasised the importance of protecting drylands. The main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2006 were held in Algeria.

2007

The topic for World Environment Day for 2007 was “Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?” During International Polar Year. WED 2007 focused on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, on other ice- and snow-covered areas of the world, and the resulting global impacts.

The main international celebrations of the WED 2007 were held in the city of Tromso, Norway, a city north of the Arctic Circle.

Egypt issued a postage stamp for the 2007 World Environment Day.

2008

The host for World Environment Day 2008 was New Zealand, with the main international celebrations scheduled for Wellington. The slogan for 2008 was “Co2, Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.” New Zealand was one of the first countries to pledge to achieve carbon-neutrality, and will also focus on forest management as a tool for reducing greenhouse gases.

The Chicago Botanic Garden served as the North American host for World Environment Day on 5 June 2008.

2009

The theme for WED 2009 was “Your Planet Needs You – UNite to Combat Climate Change”, and Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” was declared “World Environment Day Song”. It was hosted in Mexico.

2010

“Many Species. One Planet. One Future”, was the theme of 2010.

It celebrated the diversity of life on Earth as part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. It was hosted in Rwanda. Thousands of activities were organized worldwide, with beach clean-ups, concerts, exhibits, film festivals, community events and much more. Each continent (except Antartica) had a “regional host city”, the U.N. chose Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the host for all North.

2011

The world environment day of 2011 was hosted by India. It was the 1st time for India to host the day. The theme for 2011 was ‘Forests – Nature At Your Service’. Thousands of activities were organized worldwide, with beach clean-ups, concerts, exhibits, film festivals, community events, tree plantings, and much more.

2012

The theme for the 2012 World Environment Day was Green Economy.

The theme aimed to invite people to examine their activities and lifestyle and see how the concept of a “Green Economy” fits into it. The host country for the year’s celebrations was Brazil.

2013

The 2013 theme for World Environment Day was “Think.Eat.Save”.

The campaign addressed the huge annual wastage and losses in food, which, if conserved, would release a large quantity of food as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint. The campaign aimed to bring about awareness in countries with lifestyles resulting in food wastage. It also aimed to empower people to make informed choices about the food they eat so as to reduce the overall ecological impact due to the worldwide production of food. The host country for the year’s celebrations was Mongolia.

2014

The Theme of the 2014 WED was International Year of Small Islands Developing States (SIDS). By choosing this Theme the UN General Assembly aimed to highlight the development Challenges and successes of the SIDS. In 2014, the World Environment Day focused on global warming and its impact on ocean levels. The Slogan of the WED 2014 is “Raise your voice not the sea level”, as Barbados hosted the global celebrations of the 42nd edition of the World Environment Day. The UN Environment Programme named actor Ian Somerhalder as the official Goodwill ambassador of the WED 2014.

2015

The Slogan of the 2015 edition of the World Environment Day is “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care”. The slogan was picked through a voting process on social media. In Saudi Arabia, 15 women recycled 2000 plastic bags to crochet a mural in support of the WED 2015.  In India, Narendra Modi planted a Kadamb sapling to celebrate the World Environment Day and raise awareness for Environment. Italy is the host country of the 43rd edition of the WED. The celebrations took place as part of Milan Expo around the theme: Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life.

2016

The 2016 WED was organized under the theme “Go wild for life”. This edition of the WED aims to reduce and prevent the illegal trade in wildlife.Angola was chosen as the host country of the 2016 WED during the COP21. in Paris.

2017

Activities for World Environment Day in Bhopal, India

The theme for 2017 was ‘Connecting People to Nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator’. The host nation was Canada.

2018

The theme for 2018 was “Beat Plastic Pollution”. The host nation was India. By choosing this theme, it is hoped that people may strive to change their everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of Plastic Pollution. People should be free from the over-reliance on single-use or disposables, as they have severe environmental consequences. We should liberate our natural places, our wildlife and our own health from plastics. The Indian government pledged to eliminate all single use of plastic in India by 2022.

2019

The theme for 2019 was “Beat Air Pollution”. The host nation was China. This theme was chosen as air pollution kills about 7 million people annually.

In  Reunion Island, Miss Earth 2018, from Vietnam delivered her speech during World Environment Day with the theme “How to fight global warming.

2020

The theme for 2020 was “Time for Nature”, and was hosted in Colombia in partnership with Germany.

Columbia is one of the largest megadiverse countries in the world and holds close to 10% of the planet’s biodiversity. Since it is part of the Amazon rainforest. Colombia ranks first in bird and orchid species diversity and second in plants, butterflies, freshwater fish. And amphibians.

2021

The World Environment Day falls on June 5. The theme for 2021 is “Ecosystem Restoration”, and was hosted by Pakistan. On this occasion UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration was also launched.

2022

The World Environment Day theme for 2022 is “Only One Earth” and the event was hosted by Sweden.

2023

The World Environment Day theme for 2023 is “Solution to plastic pollution” and the event was hosted by Côte d’Ivoire. It is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matters. The steps governments and businesses are taking to tackle plastic pollution are the consequence of this action. It is time to accelerate this action and transition to a circular economy.

 

Blog By: Trupti Thakur