Today (5 June) is World Environment Day, and this years campaign focuses on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience under the slogan "Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration".
The World Environment Day website states: "We cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, revive water sources, and bring back soils. We are the generation that can make peace with land".
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the 2024 World Environment Day global celebrations.
World Environment Day
World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. Over the past five decades, the Day has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach. Tens of millions of people participate online and through in-person activities, events and actions around the world.
World Environment Day is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. The Day also promotes progress on the environmental dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals.
With the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the helm, over 150 countries participate each year. Major corporations, non-governmental organisations, communities, governments and celebrities from across the world adopt the World Environment Day brand to champion environmental causes.
#GenerationRestoration
According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40% of the planet's land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world's population and threatening roughly half of global GDP (US$44 trillion). The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29% since 2000. Without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world's population by 2050.
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.
2024 will mark the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, from 2 to 13 December 2024.
Get involved
The World Environment Day website provides a practical guide which is designed to help get everyone involved in ecosystem restoration. It is organised into several chapters such as:
It outlines the many ways we can all join forces to give nature a helping hand by acting today, making smart choices and raising our voice for restoration.
You can also see the events taking place for World Environment Day around the world, or register your own event here.
