New Delhi: Every year on June 5 World Environment Day is celebrated with an aim to encourage awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Last year, India was the global host for World Environment Day when the theme was Beat Plastic Pollution. This time as the world once again gears up for the 46th World Environment Day, here’s a lowdown of five things you should know about the day.
World Environment Day: All You Need To Know
1. Host Country For World Environment Day: This year the host country for World Environment Day is China. The Government of China has committed to organising World Environment Day celebrations across multiple cities with Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province hosting the main event.
2. Theme For World Environment Day: Beat Air Pollution is this year’s theme and has been chosen by the host country in bid to take on the global crisis of Air Pollution. UN Environment states that approximately 7 million people worldwide die prematurely each year from air pollution, with about 4 million of these deaths occurring in the Asia-Pacific region.
The focus on this World Environment Day will be on encouraging governments, industry, communities, and individuals to come together to explore renewable energy and green technologies that will help improve air quality in cities and regions across the world.
Also Read: World Environment Day: Noida Gears Up To Celebrate June 5 By Distributing Eco-Friendly Plants
3. The Story Behind World Environment Day: Back in 1972, the UN General Assembly established World Environment Day during the first day of Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Two years later, in 1974 the first world environment day was celebrated with the theme “Only One Earth”. Whereas, in 1987, the idea for rotating the host country for the celebrations of world environment day began.
4. Air Pollution Crisis You Should Know: Air pollution is a huge problem every country is facing today. The silent killer, both outside and inside the home, is responsible for the premature death of 7 million people each year globally, including 600,000 children, according to a UN expert on the environment and human rights.
According to the State of Global Air 2019 report, air pollution was responsible for taking 1.2 million lives in 2017. Therefore understanding the different types of pollution, and how it affects our health and environment becomes an important factor. ‘We can’t stop breathing, but we can do something about the quality of our air,’ with this thought in mind, this year’s world environment day aims to focus on beating air pollution globally and will also be looking at areas such as – Household, Industry, Transport, Agriculture and Waste.
Also Read: 1.2 Million Deaths In India In 2017, Courtesy Air Pollution
5. Activities Planned On World Environment Day In India: In India, the Ministry of Environment has recently launched a song ‘Hawa Aane De”, to mark the World Environment Day on June 5 and spread awareness about the theme of this years’ and encourage people to get involved in fighting air pollution by introducing minor changes in daily routine.
Apart from the official song track, many cities will be coming forward to organise plantation drives in a bid to do their bit towards making this planet clean and green.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
