A UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration partner, the Society for Ecological Restoration is running its annual "Make a Difference Week" in support of World Environment Day 2024.   

 

Make a Difference Week taking place from 1 to 9 June 2024 is devoted to global restoration action. Individuals and organizations from around the world host and participate in community-based restoration projects and events. Attracting more than six thousand volunteers, 397 restorative events have so far been hosted as part of the Week.   

Register your World Environment Day ecosystem restoration event or activity and receive a certificate of participation. 

UNEP’s World Environment Day Practical Guide is designed to help get everyone involved in halting land degradation and restoring ecosystems. This user-friendly primer is aimed at governments, businesses and everyday citizens, and focuses on everything from protecting rivers to making farming more sustainable. Check it out – and share with friends and family. 

Pedestrians across New York City got a chance to see a public service announcement video produced for this year’s World Environment Day courtesy of Link NYC.  

World Environment Day, which falls on 5 June every year, is the United Nations flagship day for encouraging global awareness and action to protect the environment. 

Visit World Environment Day Flicker album to see more photos. 

Once the world’s fourth-largest freshwater lake, the Aral Sea has lost about 90 per cent of its water since the 1960s, transforming into a vast expanse of sand. But efforts are now underway to plant shrubs and other greenery across the Aral’s seabed in an ambitious effort to turn this newly formed desert into productive land.  

Natural spaces, such as forests, farmlands, savannahs, peatlands and mountains, provide humanity with the food, water and raw materials it needs to survive.  Yet, more than 2 billion hectares of the world’s land is degraded, affecting more than 3 billion people.  

In this story, UNEP looks at how governments, businesses and everyday people can halt land degradation and restore natural spaces to their former glory. 

Geneva is home to a host of United Nations bodies, non-profit groups and academic institutions. This year, many of them will come together on World Environment Day to showcase how they are tackling desertification, land degradation and drought.



An in-person event on 5 June will feature speakers from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, UN Water, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labour Organization.

Fancy an all-expenses-paid trip to Bonn, Germany? Join the G20 Global Land Initiative’s World Environment Day Raffle for a chance to win a five-day trip to the scenic city on the Rhine River.  

The contest is designed to help raise awareness about land restoration and combating desertification. The lucky winner will be announced on 5 June.   

On 27 May, join United Nations Environment Programme Faith for Earth Coalition and partners for a working group event Spiritual Ecology & Land: #Faith4Earth Youth Leadership.



Register and explore how faith actors champion restoration with Faith for Earth Youth leading the way, including successful projects and initiatives to restore land, halt desertification and build drought resilience. 



The event is part of the global celebration ahead of World Environment Day.  

Rangelands including savannas, shrublands, wetlands, tundra and deserts cover 54 per cent of all land and account for one sixth of global food production and one third of the planet’s carbon reservoir.  



However, a new report released by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification paints a bleak picture of the state rangelands due to overuse, misuse, climate change and biodiversity loss. 



Globally, two billion people depend on healthy rangelands for their livelihoods.  



The new report details innovative approaches that could enable policymakers to stabilize, restore and manage rangelands. 

“Kiss the Ground” is a groundbreaking documentary film that explores soil as the missing piece of the climate puzzle. Narrated by actor Woody Harrelson, the film illustrates how by regenerating soils, the foundation of earth, countries can stabilize the climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. 



As part of this year’s World Environment Day celebrations, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Children and Youth Major Group are hosting a film screening and discussion with “Kiss the Ground” producer Finian Makepeace. 



Sign up for the event and join the conversation on 4 June.