In support of World Environment Day on June 5, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is launching its fifth annual Youth Innovation Challenge with a focus on Climate Change and Environmental Justice Innovations for Resilient Communities.

The Challenge promotes youth-led innovations and entrepreneurial ideas that support communities in becoming more resilient to climate change and climate-related issues, including nature-based solutions. This year’s challenge will look to elevate local knowledge, perspectives, and voices for the benefit of local communities, with a particular focus on supporting environmental justice

The four-week challenge, launching on June 5, is open to participants aged 18–30 who are residents of Canada, Mexico or the United States. Participants have the chance to compete for up to CAD$15,000 per country in seed funding, a chance to present their solution to North America’s top environmental officials and an opportunity to engage in a youth-led networking and mentorship event.

Find out more and meet previous winners of the Youth Innovation Challenge here.

From June 5, you can submit your entry here.

Don’t miss a thing ahead of World Environment Day by checking the website here, and the official schedule of events here. June 5 also marks the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Find out more here.

Show you are ready for change by joining UNEP’s online Snap Challenge. Check out this video for inspiration and show the world what you will do to heal nature.

More tips here and when you post be sure to share your action on social media channels with the #GenerationRestoration and #WorldEnvironmentDay hashtags. Challenge friends, organizations, or companies to take the challenge too.

To coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, Angélique Kidjo has unveiled a new preview of her forthcoming album Mother Nature (June 18 / Universal Music Group). The album’s title track is an anthem for the earth and arrives with a music video featuring an appearance and vocals from Sting, in collaboration with environmentalist, photographer and director Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

The video features fans from three continents, dancing together, to celebrate mother earth and to call for her protection.

Kidjo, a four-time GRAMMY winner and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, sings: “Mother Nature has a way of warning us / A time bomb set on a lost countdown / Do you hear it, will you stop it, won’t you listen?”

“I want this record to inspire people to think about their connection to Mother Nature, and how dear this Earth is to us,” says Kidjo. “Without nature, we don’t exist — it nurtures us, it nourishes us, and it does that with absolutely no judgement. And even though nature is under attack from our industries, she’s still always so generous.”

On Mother Nature, Kidjo joins forces with some of the most captivating young creators of West African music including Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi, Salif Keita, and Burna Boy, among many others.

Watch/Listen here

Read more about how this album came together in this Rolling Stone article

Follow all the World Environment Day events here and join #GenerationRestoration to be part of the solution.

With India reeling from COVID-19, some of the country’s best-known celebrities, including actors Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Arjun Kapoor, have come together to raise awareness about the need to protect the environment and restore the buffer zones between humans and animals.

In a series of homemade videos released on the eve of World Environment Day, the stars called for a concerted global effort to combat climate change, limit pollution and reverse the destruction of natural spaces, like forests and wetlands. The videos were produced by the Bhamla Foundation.

“Forest fires, dying coral reefs, polluted air and now a global pandemic. It’s brought our planet to the brink of total destruction and all of us are responsible,” said Kapoor. “We didn’t inherit this Earth from our ancestors but have borrowed it from our children. It’s our duty to leave a clean, healthy, thriving world for them.”

More than 340,000 Indians have died from COVID-19 and while the origins of the coronavirus remain contested, the World Health Organization believes it may have emerged in wild animals before jumping to humans.

Check out this 2020 UNEP report for more on why pandemics are now more likely because of human activities.

“There is a very real connection between how we’re treating the planet and pandemics,” said Atul Bagai, coordinator of India’s UNEP office. “If we want to prevent another COVID-19, we need to undo the damage we have done and put some breathing room between humans and animals.”

Read the full story about the Bollywood campaign here.

Human activity has altered more than 75 per cent of the Earth’s surface and ecosystem degradation is affecting some 3.2 billion people.

This World Environment Day, why not join #GenerationRestoration and commit to healing our planet.

On June 4, four-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo took part in the One Earth Dialogue on why restoration matters at the UNDP Rome Centre for Sustainable Development.

She had a stark message ahead of World Environment Day on June 5 and the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

“The children of this world, this planet, will hold us accountable for generations to come if we do not act. That’s why I say let’s be bold, and fearless because we are fighting for something greater than us.”

Take heed of her words and join #GenerationRestoration now.

In a message for World Environment Day, Fiji’s Minister for the Environment Mahendra Reddy drew a line between the devastating COVID-19 pandemic and exploitation of natural resources, saying the economic misery caused by the pandemic is pushing people towards more unsustainable practices.

“This will have serious consequences on our natural resources and our environment, thus compromising the quality of life of future generations. Thus the beginning of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 could not have come at a more appropriate time when the world is in dire and urgent need for immediate protection and restoration,” he said.

Fiji is particularly at risk from climate change, and the threat of rising sea levels. And yet it is one of the smallest contributors to global carbon emissions.

Join #GenerationRestoration today and play your part in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

This World Environment Day is both a celebration of our planet and a rallying call for action because June 5 also marks the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, an ambitious 10-year global push to repair the damage we have done to the fragile natural systems that sustain us.

The Decade kicked off with a virtual launch on Friday with leaders in politics, science, communities, religion and culture raising their voices to call for the protection and revival of millions of hectares of ecosystems around the world for the benefit of people and nature.

Read more about the launch of the Decade and what it means here

If you missed it, watch the launch gala here.

The stakes could not be higher. But the benefits will be huge too.

“The task is monumental. We need to replant and protect our forests. We need to clean up our rivers and seas. And we need to green our cities,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Accomplishing these things will not only safeguard the planet’s resources. It will create millions of new jobs by 2030, generate returns of over $7 trillion dollars every year and help eliminate poverty and hunger.”

Learn more about ecosystem restoration with UNEP’s Ecosystem Restoration Playbook.

“We must use this moment in history to launch a massive global movement to save our terrestrial and marine ecosystems even as we continue to decarbonize,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “Governments must ensure COVID-19 stimulus packages contribute to a sustainable and equitable recovery from the pandemic. Businesses and the financial sector must reform operations and financial flows so that they restore the natural world. And as individuals and consumers, rethink your choices, demand deforestation-free products and vote for sustainability in the polling booths.”

Pakistan is hosting this year’s World Environment Day celebrations and you can follow the official country launch here. 

“The world has no choice but to go on a nature-positive pathway, which will not only boost the economy but also protect the environment,“ said Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan.

It’s finally here! World Environment Day has arrived and millions of people around the world are joining in this global celebration on the theme of ecosystem restoration.

Host country Pakistan is holding a live event to mark the day and the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The event is taking place at the Jinnah Convention Center in Islamabad and officiated by Prime Minister Imran Khan with the participation from a host of dignitaries from around the world including, UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Andersen, and senior officials from The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN-Habitat, and UNDP among others as well as from the governments of Germany and Saudi Arabia. The event will also feature songs and videos on Pakistan’s Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme.

Watch live here

Pakistan is celebrating a number of milestones: the completion of a billion trees as part of its Ten Billion Tree Tsunami, taking up a large voluntary pledge under the Bonn Challenge, a new Marine Protected Area and an innovative announcement around Nature financing including flotation of the country’s first Green bond.

Follow all the events around World Environment Day here and find out how you can be part of #GenerationRestoration. Because the planet needs all of us.