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World Environment Day – 5 juin 2024

5 juin 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: carbon storage, désertification, drought, eco-systems, environment, extreme weather, food security, land degradation

World Environment Day is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach. It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host World Environment Day 2024 with a focus on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience. Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

UNEP chief’s statement on World Environment Day 2024

Land restoration can reverse the creeping tide of land degradation, drought and desertification. Every dollar invested in restoration can bring up to US$30 in ecosystem services. Restoration boosts livelihoods, lowers poverty and builds resilience to extreme weather. Restoration increases carbon storage and slows climate change. Restoring just 15 per cent of land and halting further conversion could avoid up to 60 per cent of expected species extinctions.

But we must also end the drivers of land degradation, drought and desertification, such as climate change. Last year, temperatures records were shattered. Much of the world felt the impacts, not just in heat but in storms, floods and drought. Restoring land without tackling climate change would be like giving with one hand and taking away with the other, so G20 nations must show leadership across the whole climate agenda – as the Kingdom has done and continues to do on land restoration.

There is real hope. Countries have promised to restore one billion hectares, an area larger than China. If they deliver, this will be huge. Through World Environment Day and through hosting the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s conference of the parties this December, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can build momentum and action towards these restoration goals, slow climate change, protect nature and boost the livelihoods and food security of billions of people around the world.

 

Source: Text & Image: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/statements/world-environment-day-2024-accelerating-land-restoration-drought

World Sea Day – 28 September

30 septembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: challenge, dialogue, disasters, eco-systems, ecologists, environment, fishing, océan, oil, problems, sea, whales

The World Sea Day has been marked since 1978 by decision of the 38th session of the International Marine Organization of November 1977, initially celebrated on March 17. Since 1980 it’s been celebrated on one of the days of the last week of September. The goal of the World Sea Day is drawing the community’s attention to problems, connected with the pollution of water basins, global warming and illegal fishing.

The sea always fascinated people. Many poets and artists worship the sea in their works while people of all walks of life annually dream about a holiday at the seaside.

At the same time, according to the UN, annually about 21 million barrels of oil leak into the ocean causing death of tens of thousands of seabirds and mammals.

Over the last 100 years 90% of the world reserves of tuna and codfish have been fished out. The global warming has led to the rise of the world ocean water level by 10-25 cm. The myth that the global water resources are inexhaustible has seriously affected the biodiversity of the world ocean, Alexei Knizhnikov, the coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund’s department for the environmental policy in oil and gas sector, says.

« Just two examples. Whale fishery has almost killed some species of whales. The classical example for Russia is the gray whale in the Okhotsk Sea. It had been considered to be extinct way back in 20th century. But in the end of the 20th century a hundred of these whales was detected and now we are doing our best to preserve the population of these whales. The second example is the extinction of sturgeon because of very aggressive fishing. »

The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in April when an explosion of an oil rig led caused a huge oil spill showed how terrible the negative impact of human beings on the environment can be, the expert says.

« That oil spill has halted the industrial fishing in the water area which size is equal to the size of Greece. The environment disasters are now getting country-scale and the next step is a continent-scale. »

Source: Text: IDEA International Dialogue for Environmental Action Image: dissolve.com

 

 

 

World Environment Day – 5 June

4 juin 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: air pollution, Concern, eco-systems, economists, environment, évolution, growth, nature, opportunity, planet, responsibility, UN

Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth. In the long and tortuous evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has been reached when, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale.

The United Nations, aware that the protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world, designated 5 June as the World Environment Day. The celebration of this day provides us with an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated all over the world.

 “Connecting People to Nature”
Each World Environment Day is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The theme for 2017, ‘Connecting People to Nature’, urges us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it. It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship.

Billions of rural people around the world spend every working day ‘connected to nature’ and appreciate full well their dependence on natural water supplies and how nature provides their livelihoods in the form of fertile soil. They are among the first to suffer when ecosystems are threatened, whether by pollution, climate change or over-exploitation.

Nature’s gifts are often hard to value in monetary terms. Like clean air, they are often taken for granted, at least until they become scarce. However, economists are developing ways to measure the multi-trillion-dollar worth of many so-called ‘ecosystem services’, from insects pollinating fruit trees to the leisure, health and spiritual benefits of a hike up a valley.

Source: Text & Image: UN