The World Environment Day event schedule is now complete. Below is the 2021 World Environment day live feed.
This World Environment Day, join #GenerationRestoration.
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.
As the climate emergency intensifies, the transition towards climate stability becomes increasingly critical. Progress will depend on countries and their ability to cover ground on their commitments under the Paris Agreement and eventually, their collective contributions to keep the global average temperature well below 2°C.
The UNEP Climate Action Note displays the state of the climate, what’s happening now, the progress made and what needs to be done. You can explore key data on wildfires, land temperatures, ocean temperatures and the country pledges -- known as Nationally Determined Commitments -- made under the 2015 Paris agreement.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing widespread human suffering and the planet reeling from the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning in his message for Earth Day.
“Our planet is at a tipping point. Humanity continues to abuse the natural world. We heedlessly plunder the Earth’s resources, deplete its wildlife and treat air, land and seas as dumping grounds. Crucial ecosystems and food chains are being pushed to the brink of collapse,” he said.
“This is suicidal. We must end our war on nature and nurse it back to health.”
Guterres called for bold climate action to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and for urgent steps to protect biodiversity and reduce pollution and waste.
His message goes to the heart of the vision behind the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which kicks off on World Environment Day on June 5.
Find out more about the Decade here and see what you can do to be part of #GenerationRestoration
UpLink and 1t.org, in collaboration with Salesforce and supported by the UN Decade on Ecosystems restoration, have launched the #GenerationRestoration Youth Challenge. The Challenge is a global call for impactful and inspiring solutions by ecopreneurs and young change-makers to conserve and restore ecosystems of all types, including intact and degraded terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, such as forests, grasslands, peat, etc.
Submissions are open until 15 June 2021
Learn more about the scope of the Challenge, assessment criteria and how to submit your solution here.
The best 10-20 submissions will be invited to a 4-month accelerator programme by 1t.org to help scale and advance their impact. This will include targeted support, access to networks and community, as well as social media and communications for increased public exposure.
Do you have any questions? Contact Gianluca Gygax ([email protected]) for more information.
One of the most promising solutions to land degradation is restoration, which aims to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded landscapes. More than 2 billion hectares of such landscapes stand to be restored globally. However, implementation still remains far below the level needed to address land degradation on a global scale.
On 29 April 2021, the Global Landscapes Forum will organize a digital forum on restoration hosted jointly by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) and the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR). This event will help increase understanding in three key areas where restoration can make significant contributions: climate mitigation and adaptation, job creation, and reducing threats to biodiversity. It will also provide an opportunity to showcase the role of partnerships and collaboration in successful restoration.
The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) will host the 9th World Conference on Ecological Restoration virtually from 21 – 24 June 2021.
The four-day meeting will bring together restoration professionals and students from around the world and provide a lively forum for networking and knowledge exchange. We invite participants from across the field of ecological restoration, including academics, researchers, practitioners, students, artists, economists, advocates, legislators, regulators, and others who support the field to join us virtually to connect, learn, and work towards catalyzing global change as we start the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
On 2-3 June 2021, the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) will host the first-ever digital conference focused entirely on Africa’s drylands and how integrative restoration practices can see them flourish once again. Join in for inspiring speakers, the latest science, concerts, film screenings, virtual tours, networking, and the unexpected discoveries that always form part of a Global Landscapes Forum event.
GLF Africa: Restoring Africa’s Drylands will be held just before the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 22 April as International Mother Earth Day through a resolution adopted in 2019. The Day recognises the Earth and its ecosystems as humanity's common home and the need to protect her to enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change, and stop the collapse of biodiversity. The theme for 2021 is Restore our Earth.
Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action. Nature is suffering. Australian fires, heat records and the worst locust invasion in Kenya. Now we face COVID -19, a worldwide health pandemic link to the health of our ecosystem.
This International Mother Earth Day, we need a shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet.
Learn more about UNEP's work on halting the degradation of ecosystems and climate change: