World Environment Day 2022: Only One Earth Is The Theme This Year

New Delhi: In the universe are billions of galaxies, in our galaxy are billions of planets, but there is ‘Only One Earth’ – with this message, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is celebrating World Environment Day 2022. June 5 every year, is observed as World Environment Day (WED), since 1973 when it was first celebrated.

About The World Environment Day 2022 Theme

The ‘Only One Earth’ theme focuses on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature,” as it calls for collective, transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet.

“Only One Earth” was the slogan for the 1972 Stockholm Conference; 50 years on, this truth still holds – this planet is our only home. The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm was the first world conference to make the environment a major issue.

With nature in emergency mode, the #OnlyOneEarth campaign for World Environment Day 2022, wants you to celebrate the planet through collective environmental action. Only One Earth advocates for transformative environmental change on a global scale. The campaign shines a spotlight on climate action, nature action and pollution action while encouraging everyone, everywhere to live sustainably, the UNEP states.

It further adds that while our individual consumption choices do make a difference, it is collective action that will create the transformative environmental change we need, so we can advance to a more sustainable and just Earth, where everyone can flourish.

Also Read: World Environment Day Special: Sundarbans – The Land Of Tides, Tigers And Threats

Significance Of World Environment Day 2022

This UN international day has become the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people from across the world engaging to protect the planet.

2022 is a historic milestone for the global environmental community as it marks 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, widely seen as the first international meeting on the environment.

The 1972 Stockholm Conference encouraged the formation of environment ministries and agencies around the world and kickstarted a host of new global agreements to collectively protect the environment. It was also where the goals of poverty alleviation and environmental protection became linked, paving the way for the Sustainable Development Goals. At the Stockholm Conference, the idea of World Environment Day was formalised, with the first one being celebrated in 1973.

Also Read: How Has Climate Change Impacted Food Security In India’s Sundarbans

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.