The theme for World Environment Day 2021 is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’ and Pakistan is the host for 2021. This day will also see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
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.
According to the release of the UN Environment Programme, “Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 per cent of the world’s population. Every single year we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 per cent of our global economic output,” stressing that “massive gains await us” by reversing these trends.
The significance & history of the day
The United Nations Assembly established World Environment Day in 1972 in the Stockholm Conference. Since then it is one of the biggest annual events organised by the UN to generate awareness about the importance of nature. World Environment Day was first observed in 1974 in the US.
This year’s host country is Pakistan. In current times, the relevance of the day is far greater given the fact that our environment is depleting.
UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the leading global voice on the environment provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems and restore them to achieve global goals.
The UN Decade is building a strong, broad-based global movement to ramp up restoration and put the world on track for a sustainable future. That will include building political momentum for restoration as well as thousands of initiatives on the ground.
The UNEP’s campaign – “Recreate, Reimagine, Restore,” focuses on reversing the degradation of our ecosystems.
For the reader to ponder over, what is that as an individual you doing every day to safeguard your environment and leave behind worth living for your coming generation?
