World Environment Day
World Environment Day is celebrated on 5 June Every year. The United Nations’ principal vehicle for increasing awareness and action for environmental conservation is World Environment Day (WED). It has served as a venue for raising awareness on environmental issues such as marine pollution, human overpopulation, global warming, sustainable consumerism, and wildlife crime since its inception in 1974.
The 2022 World Environment Day campaign #OnlyOneEarth calls for collective, transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet
Do you know? Over 143 nations participate in World Environment Day, which serves as a worldwide forum for public outreach every year. Each year, the program provides a subject and a platform for corporations, non-profits, towns, governments, and celebrities to fight for environmental problems. The United Nations launched World Environment Day in 1972 due to debates about the integration of human relationships and the environment during the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (5–16 June 1972).
The inaugural World Environment Day (WED) was observed two years later, in 1974, with the theme “Only One Earth.” Although WED festivities have been performed yearly since 1974, the concept of rotating the focus of these events by selecting various host nations originated in 1987. The anthem was first performed in June 2013 by Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor, then-Union Ministers of India, at a gathering hosted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations in New Delhi on World Environment Day. Habitat For Humanity, a global organization, is a supporter.
World Environment Day 2022
Every year, a different country hosts World Environment Day, with formal events in that country. Sweden will be the host country in 2022. Sweden and Kenya, with support from UNEP and partners, are hosting a high-level international meeting in Stockholm on the 2nd and 3rd of June 2022 titled “Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity” to commemorate the 1972 UN Conference on Human Environment.
The global campaign #OnlyOneEarth for World Environment Day 2022 pushes for policy and decision reforms that enable cleaner, greener, and sustainable living in harmony with nature. It will focus on the importance of living sustainably and in peace with nature and our options for transitioning to a greener lifestyle through policy and individual decisions. The slogan of the 1972 Stockholm Conference was “Only One Earth.” The motto is as relevant as 50 years ago: this planet is our only home, and humanity must protect its precious resources.
For the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the worldwide environmental community, 2022 marks a watershed moment. It is the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) due to the Stockholm Conference. It also falls on the same day as the high-level Stockholm+50 international summit. These iconic events provide a platform for the world community to deepen collaboration and demonstrate leadership in the transition to a more sustainable society.
Stockholm+50
On the 2nd and 3rd of June 2022, the Government of Sweden, with the help of the Government of Kenya, will hold Stockholm+50. The 50th anniversary of this landmark conference and its consequence documents, most notably the Stockholm Declaration, will be commemorated during this worldwide gathering. Stockholm+50 will help speed progress toward a more sustainable society, including a long-term recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting will reflect on the urgent need for actions toward a healthy planet and prosperity for all, as well as achieving a sustainable and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and speeding up the implementation of the environmental dimension of Sustainable Development in the context of the Decade of Action, in three leadership dialogues. The summit will also reinforce the messages and outcomes of UNEP’s 50th-anniversary celebration (UNEP@50), which will take place in Nairobi in March 2022.
All Events: 2022 Events Calendar
Fun Fact
Where was the first World Environment Celebrated?
The First World Environment was celebrated in Spokane, USA (1974).
