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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