Reimagine. Recreate. Restore.
World Environment Day 2021
Tomorrow, Saturday 5th June, is World Environment Day. This year’s theme is – Reimagine. Recreate. Restore – as this year marks the beginning of the United Nations decade on ecosystem restoration. The global host is Pakistan, who are highlighting the importance of ecosystem restoration throughout their event.
“This is our moment.
We cannot turn back time. But we can grow trees, green our cities, rewild our gardens, change our diets and clean up rivers and coasts. We are the generation that can make peace with nature.
Let’s get active, not anxious. Let’s be bold, not timid.”
Throughout the week the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Decade Partners are running scheduled events featuring high level speakers and expert panels from around the world which you can join in on YouTube. Check out the Official Events Schedule to find out what’s on and how to bookmark and join in events.
Launch of flagship report
“Facing the triple threat of climate change, loss of nature and pollution, the world must deliver on its commitment to restore at least one billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade – an area about the size of China.”
Yesterday saw the launch of the flagship report from UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). They are urging ‘intense restoration of nature to avoid climate and biodiversity crises’ and are calling on countries to meet their environmental commitments to restore one billion hectares of land’.
Ecosystem Restoration is a hugely important way of delivering nature-based solutions for food insecurity, along with climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity loss. It is not easy and it is not a quick fix – it is a long-term process of change, from the way we measure economic progress to looking at what we eat and then how we grow our food.
The report shows evidence about the state of degradation of the world’s ecosystems and details economic, environmental and social rewards which restoration can bring. It invites everyone to join the #GenerationRestoration movement to halt, prevent, and reverse the degradation of our worldwide ecosystems.
Find out more
Explore World Environment Day’s website to ‘journey through ecosystems’ where you can learn about forests, reefs, deserts and more, finding out why they matter to us. You can share how you are ‘making peace’ with nature and ‘play a game’ to restore the planet, as well as signing up to receive updates. Check out the UN Environment Programme’s Facebook Page and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration website
5 June was designated by the United Nations to be celebrated as World Environment Day to highlight the significance of its protection. A resolution was adopted in 1972 urging ‘Governments and the organisations in the United Nations system to undertake on that day every year world-wide activities reaffirming their concern for the preservation and enhancement of the environment, with a view to deepening environmental awareness’