Subject: INFOTERRA: World Environment Day
Dear Colleagues,
For your reference, please find the following background information
on WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 1998.
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The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
invites people the world over to commemorate World Environment Day on
5 June. The aim of this annual event is to raise environmental
awareness, and to encourage global action in the protection of
the environment. With the theme For Life on Earth: Save Our
Seas, the Day also honours the United Nations International
Year of the Oceans.
Broadly, our agenda is to give a human face to environmental
issues; empower people to become active agents of sustainable
and equitable development; promote an understanding that
communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards
environmental issues; and advocate partnerships which will
ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more
prosperous future.
WHEN DID IT ALL BEGIN
World Environment Day was established by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm
Conference on the Human Environment. Another resolution,
adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led to the
creation of UNEP.
HOW CAN YOU CELEBRATE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY
World Environment Day can be celebrated in many ways,
including street rallies, bicycle parades, green concerts,
essay competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling
efforts, clean up campaigns and much more.
In many countries, this annual event is used to enhance
political attention and action. Heads of State, Prime
Ministers and Ministers of Environment deliver statements and
commit themselves to care for the Earth. More serious pledges
are made which lead to the establishment of permanent
governmental structures dealing with environmental management
and economic planning. This observance also provides an
opportunity to sign or ratify international environmental
conventions.
World Environment Day is also a multi-media event which
inspires thousands of journalists and broadcasters to report
enthusiastically or critically on the environment. It is a
visual event with television documentaries, photo and art
exhibits, as well as poster displays. It is also an
intellectual event for those who organize and participate in
seminars, roundtable meetings and symposia.
WHERE WILL THE MAIN 1998 CELEBRATIONS BE HELD
Each year UNEP, the United Nations agency responsible for
coordinating World Environment Day activities, selects a city
as the main venue for the international celebrations. This
year, this special event will take place in Moscow, Russian
Federation.
Some of the activities planned by the Government include an
International Congress and Exhibit on Water, Ecology and
Technology (25-30 May); a Conference on Sustainable Cities
(7-8 June); and an International Urban Environment Forum
entitled Euro '98 (1-4 June). Parallel to the Euro '98 event,
the Government will also host an all-Russian People in Big
Cities Congress.
The main event to be held on 5 June will culminate with the
presentation of UNEP's Global 500 awards to environmentalists,
from every corner of the world, who have made outstanding
contributions to the protection of the environment.
These environmentalists are members of a broad and growing
environmental movement that is flowering around the world.
They have taken the path that most of us hesitate to take for
want of time or caring, and in honouring them UNEP seeks
inspiration from their extraordinary deeds.
On this World Environment Day, let us examine the state of our
environment. Let us consider carefully the actions which each
of us must take, and then address ourselves to our common task
of preserving all Life on Earth in a mood of sober resolution
and quiet confidence.
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY THEMES
YEAR THEME
1974 Only one Earth
1975 Human Settlements
1976 Water: Vital Resource for Life
1977 Ozone Layer Environmental Concern; Lands Loss and
Soil Degradation; Firewood
1978 Development Without Destruction
1979 Only One Future for Our Children -
Development Without Destruction
1980 A New Challenge for the New Decade:
Development Without Destruction
1981 Ground Water; Toxic Chemicals in Human Food Chains
and Environmental Economics
1982 Ten Years After Stockholm (Renewal of Environmental
Concerns)
1983 Managing and Disposing Hazardous Waste:
Acid Rain and Energy
1984 Desertification
1985 Youth: Population and the Environment
1986 A Tree for Peace
1987 Environment and Shelter: More Than A Roof
1988 When People Put the Environment First, Development
Will Last
1989 Global Warming; Global Warning
1990 Children and the Environment
1991 Climate Change. Need for Global Partnership
1992 Only One Earth, Care and Share
1993 Poverty and the Environment - Breaking the Vicious
Circle
1994 One Earth One Family
1995 We the Peoples: United for the Global Environment
1996 Our Earth, Our Habitat, Our Home
1997 For Life on Earth
1998 For Life on Earth - Save Our Seas
HOST COUNTRIES OF INTERNATIONAL WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY AND
GLOBAL 500 CEREMONY EVENT
YEAR CITY COUNTRY
1987 Nairobi Kenya
1988 Bangkok Thailand
1989 Brussels Belgium
1990 Mexico City Mexico
1991 Stockholm Sweden
1992 Rio de Janeiro Brazil
1993 Beijing China
1994 London United Kingdom
1995 Pretoria South Africa
1996 Istanbul Turkey
1997 Seoul Republic of Korea
1998 Moscow Russian Federation
UNEP will produce WED information materials, as well as a
special edition of our quarterly magazine, Our Planet, with a
poster inserted, which will be distributed to all our
partners.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Tore J. Brevik Ms. Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox
Chief, Coordinator,
Information & Public Affairs Special Events
UNEP Headquarters UNEP Headquarters
Tel: (254-2) 62 3292 Tel: (254-2) 62 3401/3128
Fax: (254-2) 62 3927 Fax: (254-2) 62 3692
E-mail: Tore.Brevik@unep.org
E-mail: Elisabeth.Guilbaud-Cox@unep.org
Please contact Mr. Brevik and Ms. .Guilbaud-Cox directly.
Best Wishes,
Ms. Beth Ingraham, Information Officer
INFOTERRA-Secretariat
The Global Environmental Information Exchange Network
Division of Environmental Information and Assessment
United Nations Environment Programme
P.O. Box 30552
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: (254-2) 624299 or 623273
Fax: (254-2) 624269
Email: beth.ingraham@unep.org or infotinf@unep.org
Web: www.unep.org/unep/eia/ein/infoterr
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