It’s time to raise our voices to tell the world that we need action now.
This World Environment Day, it’s time for nature.
In the lead up to World Environment Day, we're featuring updates from United Nations System, from partners and from others helping to call attention to the fact that the future of humanity depends on action now.
What: Over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management, sustainable agriculture, and building from around the world will give talks and breakout sessions at the virtual summit on sustainability on the World Environment Day.
The online event, hosted by Green Institute, Nigeria, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Qatar Foundation), and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network will cover a range of topics such as biodiversity conservation, infectious diseases, sustainable agriculture, sustainable building, urban innovation, minimal living, eco-feminism, waste management, renewable energy, green education, etc.
It will present speakers from international organizations of the US, Canada, Nigeria, France, Qatar, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Switzerland, Canada, Russia, Türkiye, and others. The keynote speaker is Jeffrey D. Sachs (SDSN), named twice by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential world leaders and ranked by The Economist among the top three most influential living economists.
The event will also feature a virtual book launch of The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science (Springer, 2020) written by Adenike Akinsemolu, founder of the Green Institute. It is one of the first texts examining sustainability issues in Africa, offering a detailed and step-by-step guide to understanding sustainability, highlighting the successful cases in Africa and the world.
Join this global event and learn from successful cases and technologies for achieving Environmental Sustainability.
When: Friday, June 5 | 07:00 AM - 11:59 PM GMT
Find more information here.
What: It’s time to Run #ForNature this World Environment Day. A new Instagram and Facebook “endless runner” game gives you the chance to virtually save endangered species as you run and swim through three different environments.
Choose your animal hero: the orangutan, sea turtle or polar bear. Tilt your head and avoid the obstacles which harm the habitats of those species. Each obstacle you avoid, you save another endangered species from that ecosystem. You’ll be dodging obstacles such as bulldozers, traps, ghost nets, marine litter and melting icebergs that are real-life threats to the endangered species in the game.
You can challenge your friends to Run #ForNature by sharing personalised photos and videos of your high scores to your Stories. Personalize your message by adding text, drawings and stickers, and even include a link or mention others before sharing to their Instagram or Facebook Stories. Run #ForNature can be found at @UNEP’s Instagram and Facebook pages or click here to get started.
When: 1 June 2020
What: The Major Group of Children and Youth to UN Environment Programme is organising a youth-led Virtual Youth Environment Assembly (YEA), with the aim of mainstreaming diverse voices from youth movements in the environmental and climate agenda.
In the midst of the COVID- 19 pandemic, the YEA will provide space for children and youth to report on how young people are coping with COVID-19, adjusting to the changed modalities of environmental action, interact with ministers, high-level guests, take part in capacity building exercises - as we head into a #BuildBackBetter phase from the pandemic. The 6th June specifically is a day focused on children engagement. The outcomes of the Assembly will feed into the inter-governmental and other processes in the coming months, more specifically to the fifth UN Environment Assembly.
The number of spots is limited and all are invited to register before 2 June 2020; 13.00 UTC
When: 3 June 2020; 14.00 - 17.45 UTC | 4 June 2020; 12.00 - 15.20 UTC | 5 June 2020; 11.30 - 15.30 UTC | 6 June 2020; 14:45 - 16:30 UTC
More information here.
Desde las aguas del archipiélago Juan Fernández, en Chile, uno de los lugares más prístinos de la Tierra, el músico español hizo un llamado al mundo a unirse al movimiento #PorLaNaturaleza en este #DíaMundialDelMedioAmbiente. “La Madre Tierra nos está esperando”, dijo.
Explora la rica biodiversidad del archipiélago junto a Bosé en el video que ha preparado y que incluye música original del Colectivo Pangea, integrado por músicos de su banda. Ver el video en Instagram.
El Programa de la ONU para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) y el Gobierno de Puebla organizan un debate con expertos el próximo 5 de junio para explorar las distintas formas en las que la diversidad biológica sustenta la vida en el planeta.
Participarán el titular de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales del Gobierno de México, Víctor Manuel Toledo Manzur, el Gobernador del Estado de Puebla, Miguel Barbosa Huerta, el Coordinador Residente de la ONU en México, Antonio Molpeceres, la Representante del PNUMA en México, Dolores Barrientos Alemán, el Presidente de la Comisión de Medio Ambiente, Sustentabilidad, Cambio Climático y Recursos Naturales de la Cámara de Diputados, Roberto Rubio Montejo, Presidente de la Comisión de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Cambio Climático del Senado de la República, Raúl Bolaños-Cacho Cué y la Secretaria de Medio Ambiente, Desarrollo Sustentable y Ordenamiento Territorial de Puebla, Beatriz Manrique Guevara.
Los detalles de conexión serán compartidos en la página de Facebook del PNUMA en México.
What: Among Ghana’s prominent youth influencers and leaders, Free The Youth is invited to join UNEP Creative Supporter for the Economy, Roberta Annan, in an interactive quiz competition to raise awareness and understanding about the importance of biodiversity particularly in pandemics like COVID-19.
Stand a chance to win a delivery of Avignon Chocolates and a customised Free The Youth T-shirt by doing the following:
Winners will be randomly selected on 4 June 2020 on Instagram.
Find more information here.
Press Release by the City of Montreal on May 21st, 2020.
Valérie Plante, mayor of Montréal, happily announced that this vibrant city is the host for this years World Environment Day on June 5th.
“Montréal is proud to be the North American host city of this year’s World Environment Day. It is a valuable token of recognition of our consistent efforts to promote environmental protection, the preservation of biodiversity on our territory, and our action towards the ecological transition. This recognition does, however, bestow a major responsibility upon Montréal: that of conveying the message locally, nationally and internationally, that urgent action is required to preserve biodiversity in our increasingly urbanized world. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we are being forced to rethink our rapport with nature, and as climate change and the loss of biodiversity are becoming a real concern, cities must take concrete action, along with society as whole, because their residents aspire to greener surroundings. By taking action to protect the environment and biodiversity, as well as by presenting creating a greater balance between the natural and built environments, we can improve the quality of life of current and future generations, all while preserving our natural environment,” stated Mayor Valérie Plante.
“Nowhere is this year’s World Environment Day theme ‘Time for Nature’ better exemplified than in Montréal, the North American host city for 2020,” said Barbara Hendrie, Director, North America for the United Nations Environment Programme. “Montréal has an impressive and long tradition of environmental care and innovative use of nature-based solutions with it’s leader, Mayor Valérie Plante, a staunch defender of sustainable urban development “.
“Montréal is a shining example in the North American region of sustainable urban development and is engagement across local, regional and international networks to promote the protection of nature. As the host city for our headquarters, we benefit greatly from this and are very proud to have our Secretariat here in Montreal,” said
Richard Morgan, Executive Director, North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation.
“The World Environment Day is also an opportunity to reflect, to raise awareness and to mobilize society to take action for the protection of nature and biodiversity, the importance of which we also highlight during the International Day for Biodiveristy, celebrated on May 22. Let’s take the time to think collectively, to take action individually, and to act globally for our environment. I invite all citizens, civilian organizations and municipal governments both in North America and worldwide, to take immediate action and make concrete commitments to protect the environment and biodiversity,” concluded Mayor Valérie Plante.
For more information, visit this link.
What: A conversation about the power of personal choice and the long-lasting impacts we can have on our planet.
When: Wednesday 27 May 2020; 9:30 PM IST
Speakers: UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassadors, Dia Mirza and Adrian Grenier.
Event link here.
Earth, humanity and nature are inextricably interconnected. To restore us all back to health, we need to "rewild" the world, says environmental activist Kristine Tompkins. Tracing her life from Patagonia CEO to passionate conservationist, she shares how she has helped to establish national parks across millions of acres of land (and sea) in South America -- and discusses the critical role we all have to play to heal the planet. "We have a common destiny," she says. "We can flourish or we can suffer, but we're going to be doing it together."
Watch her full Ted talk here.
by Kristine Tompkins
As the new Coronavirus sweeps the planet, leaving suffering, loss, and uncertainty in its wake, we are reminded that this is not the first global pandemic and likely not the last. We are called to respond on many levels, to act collectively to end the global health crisis. When our global community can collectively move toward recovery, we would be remiss not to consider the other, less obvious, aspects of this crisis. Our long-term response must include our stewardship of each other and our relationship with the earth.
Throughout human history we have had a buffer zone from deadly diseases like Covid-19: extensive tracts of undisturbed nature. By razing forests and destroying other natural habitats and by replacing native species with domestic and invasive species, we have displaced these pathogens from their natural hosts and created a shortcut for them into human populations. We have seen it in the Amazon basin, where the decimation of the forest has led to a sharp rise in malaria cases. SARS, Ebola and bird flu are other examples.
Each of us, directly or indirectly, has experienced the havoc unleashed on society by the destruction of nature. But what about the suffering within the natural world? One million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, due in large part to a loss of natural habitat. Humans have severely altered 75% of land on the planet, and 66% of oceans, according to the report IPCC, 2019: Climate Change and Land. It is chilling to think that only a quarter of this planet remains intact for the other species which inhabit it. If the Earth were our savings account, we would be on the brink of bankruptcy.
It’s clear that we need to address this trend, both for the sake of the non-human world and our own. In these days of quarantine, photographs have been making the rounds of the Internet: pumas prowling a gated neighborhood in Santiago, Chile, and coyotes on the loose in San Francisco. Our first reaction is to applaud these appearances as a sign of nature coming back. However, I suspect that our wild counterparts have long been there, unseen on the fringes, searching for a place in the territory that they have lost. Perhaps the only difference now is that the world has become still enough to pay attention.
Let’s move the conversation to actions we can take to safeguard the natural world, and help restore ecosystems to be whole and functioning. We can only achieve ecological balance when the native species that have gone missing are restored. The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone showed us the positive influence one species can have on its environment. There are also cautionary tales: take away opossums in North America, and suddenly tick populations and Lyme disease balloon out of control.
We can help nature heal by rewilding the Earth. At Tompkins Conservation, we have spent several decades working to create national parks. With communities, individuals and governments we’ve helped protect 14.5 million acres in Argentina and southern Chile. Yet, this has only served as a beginning. Our teams are now working to establish new populations of native species in the places where they have gone extinct. In southern Chile, flocks of Darwin’s rhea are returning to the grasslands. In the Ibera wetlands of Northeast Argentina, once-extinct red and green macaws, giant river otters and jaguars are amongst those coming back.
The mass recovery of ecosystems can also reestablish the life-supporting functions they provide, including clean air, unpolluted water and healthy soils. The temporary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has shown us that it is possible to take the necessary steps to live differently, with more intent, to achieve a better quality of life. We have the opportunity to return equilibrium to the planet. Perhaps we can take this hiatus from normal life, which comes at a terrible price, to understand that a new normal is required.
Kristine McDivitt Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation and former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. For over twenty-five years, she has committed her career to protecting and restoring Chile and Argentina’s wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality as a result of conservation. In 2018 she was named the United Nations’ Global Patron for Protected Areas. For more information see www.tompkinsconservation.org or visit Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
