Day: 5thJune
Purpose: to raise awareness among individuals for environmental protection and take steps towards controlling it
Significance:
World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nation’s principle event to promote awareness among people about the protection of environment. The awareness for environmental protection was started in 1974. Since then there has been significant number of events and functions to promote the environment. The first steps were towards controlling marine pollution, population and global warming. These factors effects human life, wildlife and reduce the resources of human consumption.
About 143 countries worldwide participate in the World Environment Day (WED). A number of NGOS, private communities, governments hosts events to promote protection of environment. The waste from factories, air and noise pollution from vehicles, deforestation etc. is leading to global warming and there has been significant increase.
Each year ‘World Environment Day’ has a different theme and is hosted by a different country to increase awareness in each country. The theme for 2018 is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’. The slogan for the year is ‘If you can’t reuse it, refuse it’. The event is being hosted in India. World Environment Day was started in June 2013. The event was inaugurated by union Ministers of that period Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations in New Delhi. A number of organizations school, government, nonprofit, or business come forward to celebrate the day.
World Environment Day is celebrated by playing World Environment Day anthem. The poem is written by K Abhay.
If we go by figures 500 billion plastic bags are used globally and about 8 million tonnes of plastic goes to ocean. Plastic accounts for 10% of waste generated. Each minute 1 million plastic bottles are bought and 50% of which is disposable and cannot be reused.
