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.
Cities house the majority of people living on the planet today and consume around 75 per cent of the resources that come from nature. Cities have a huge role to play in preserving the planet’s finite resources and providing services for people.
This year, UNEP asks #cities to LEARN, SHARE & ACT #ForNature to take part in World Environment Day 2020.
ICLEI and CitieswithNature have collected useful resources for cities and local authorities on how they can get involved.
Nearly 3 years after Kenya’s monumental ban on plastic bags, Kenya is set to ban the use of single-use plastics in national parks, forests, beaches and conservation areas. The ban, officially launching on World Environment Day June 5th, prohibits visitors from carrying plastic water bottles, disposable plates and cups, cutlery, and straws into protected areas, with the aim of curbing the growing plastic pollution.
The Flipflopi, the world’s first sailing boat (“dhow”) made entirely from plastic waste collected from towns and beaches in Kenya wholeheartedly supports the ban. The Flipflopi and its supporters are now calling for East African Community to continue to work together to reduce single use plastics with the region.
“The preservation of our environment is tied to our wellbeing and the wellbeing of future generations. This ban is yet another first in addressing the plastic pollution catastrophe facing Kenya and the world, and we hope that it catalyses similar policies and actions from the East African community.” Said Najib Balala, Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife.
The ban comes into effect this World Environment Day whose theme is biodiversity and comes at a time when it has never been more urgent to protect nature from the catastrophic decay and deterioration that has been caused by human action.
For more information, please contact: Davina Ngei: [email protected]
When: June 5th, 2020 at 17:00 CEST
What: The Beethoven Pastoral Project, an initiative by the BTHVN2020, with UN Climate Change, ICLEI and Earth Day, is dedicated to promoting action on climate change and the environment in this 250th anniversary year of Beethoven's birth. We invite artists, musicians and creatives from around the world to join in a call for a world where humanity can again live in harmony with Nature.
The Artists Declaration will be found and “signed” here.
The Declaration will be formally launched during a livestream Pastoral event on 5 June 2020. The Declaration will be presented to the world’s governments, through Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, later this year.
The livestream event will be produced and directed by Deutsche Welle. It will encompass interviews, video clips, musical performances, the premiere of a movie by Deutsche Welle, and more. Find more information here.
New York City may be one of the globe's most renowned urban destinations, but the five boroughs also offer plenty of natural-world splendour. To celebrate World Environment Day, NYC & Company, the city's official convention and visitors bureau and destination management organization, has curated a series of virtual experiences that showcase NYC's outdoor wonders.
See what the animals are up to at the Bronx Zoo; immerse yourself in the beauty of Central Park; and explore the underwater spectacle of the New York Aquarium.
Visit their website for hundreds of other ways to connect with your favourite NYC attractions—or discover new ones—from home or wherever you are right now.
How can we better understand human diversity in order to preserve biodiversity, get closer to nature and orient our future actions?
This question will be addressed at first by Valérie Plante, Mayor of the City of Montréal, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Acting Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Barbara Hendrie, Director for North America, United Nations Environment Program, Richard Morgan, Executive Director, Commission for Environmental Cooperationand Charles-Mathieu Brunelle, Director of Space for Life.
Tune in from 9:00AM – 12:00PM (Montreal) on 5 June 2020.
For more info here.
NYC Parks GreenThumb is USA's largest urban garden program, with over 600 gardens and thousands of community gardeners throughout New York City. To support World Environment Day, they will be hosting a series of online events from June 1-7 including 2 webinars.
Webinar: The NYC EcoFlora Project and Community Gardens
When: Wednesday 3 June 2020; 12:00-13:00 EST
Event link here.
Virtual Panel: Climate Resilience in Community Gardens
When: Friday 5 June 2020; 13:00-14:00 EST
Event link here.
Did you know that there is only one global ocean? Historically, there are four named ocean basins: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic, but the Ocean is still a single body covering 140 million square miles, some 72 per cent of the earth's surface.
To promote Ocean Literacy in the build up to World Oceans Day on 08 June, UNESCO has launched a video series.
What: Connect4Climate and the World Bank are excited to share an immersive story out of Ethiopia showing that investment in nature is investment in people.
The story can be found here.
Youtube link is here.
What: The launch of the Living Chapel, this World Environment Day is hosted by the Rome Botanical Garden, and will be attended by the UN programs and organisations that are partners with the Living Chapel: FAO, Mountain Partnership, Faith for Earth of UNEP and UNRIC. The Living Chapel is inspired by the UN 2030 Agenda and the Pope Francis Laudato si’ encyclical, with its message to care for nature by inspiring and educating all people to actively protect our common home.
When: 5 June 2020, 17:00 -18.30 CEST
The meeting will be broadcast virtually with only a few speakers physically present at the Botanical Garden. The online audience will include youth, academics, environmental activists, UN colleagues, diplomats, Mountain Partnership members and media.
To watch the proceeding please watch on Facebook here.
For more info: https://livingchapel.com/
Looking to test your climate knowledge? We've got just the ticket: Connect4Climate have devised a series of climate-themed crossword puzzles. The puzzles will come out once a month and can be found via this link.
These crosswords are a part of the #ClimateQuiz series that are fun and challenging in equal measure. The June puzzle will have a biodiversity theme in support of UNEP's World Environment Day.
Enjoy!
Connect4Climate is a global partnership program launched by the World Bank Group and the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, together with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, that takes on climate change by supporting ambitious leadership, promoting transformative solutions and empowering collective action.