This year, the campaign slogan for the 2022 World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June is “Only One Earth” that clearly calls for a global, collective and transformative action to celebrate, protect and restore our planet, because we have #OnlyOneEarth and we must take care of it.
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2022
- World Environment Day on 5 June is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and held annually since 1974, the event has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people from across the world engaging to protect the planet.
- This year, #WorldEnvironmentDay 2022 is hosted by Sweden that will also host the high level Stockholm+50 international meeting from 2 to 3 June. 2022 is a historic milestone for the global environmental community. It marks the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972 and widely considered as the first international meeting on the environment. The 1972 Stockholm Conference spurred the formation of environment ministries and agencies around the world and kickstarted a host of new global agreements to collectively protect the environment This put sustainable development on the global agenda and led to the establishment of World Environment Day, with the first one being celebrated in 1974
- “Only One Earth” is the campaign slogan focused on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature” . There is a circularity in this year’s World Environment Day as 50 years ago the theme of the Stockholm Conference was exaclty the same, “Only One Earth”. The message is as important today as it was then. The slogan does emphasize that planet Earth is still the only liveable planet we have and to push for transformative actions to reset the balance between people and the natural world to create a better future for all.
- With over 150 countries participating, this UN international day engages governments, businesses, civil society, schools, celebrities, cities and communities, raising awareness and celebrating environmental action.
#OnlyOneEarth
FACTS AND FIGURES FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 5 JUNE 2022
OVERVIEW
- We are using the equivalent of 6 Earths to maintain our current way of life, and ecosystems cannot keep up with our demands.
- The gap between what we need to spend to adapt and what we are actually spending is widening. Estimated costs of adaptation continue to rise and could reach US$280-500 billion per year by 2050 for developing countries alone.
- Individuals and civil society must play a key role in raising awareness and urging governments and the private sector to make large-scale changes.
CLIMATE CHANGE
- To limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century, we must halve annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
- There is a 50 per cent chancethat global warming will exceed 1.5°C in the next two decades.
- Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is responsible for more than 25 per cent of the warming we are experiencing today.
- The climate crisis causes extreme weather events that kill or displace thousands and result in economic losses measured in the trillions.
- Investments in renewable energy can deliver high economic multipliers, have high potential to crowd-in private investment and are an important step on the road to economy-wide decarbonization.
- Even under the most optimistic scenario where net-zero is reached by 2050, global warming will continue in the short to medium term, potentially levelling off at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
NATURE AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS
- Ecosystem degradation affects the well-being of an estimated 2 billion people, or 40 per cent of the world’s population.
- Restoring 15 per cent of converted lands while stopping further conversion of natural ecosystems can prevent 60 per centof expected species extinctions.
- Every year, we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 per cent of our global economic output
- Around one-third of the world’s farmland is degraded, about 87 per cent of inland wetlands worldwide have disappearedsince 1700 and one-third of commercial fish species are overexploited.
- Food systems are responsible for 80% of biodiversity loss, and 80% of all agricultural landis for livestock and its feed, while providing only 20% of calories.
POLLUTION
- Air pollution causes about 7 million premature deaths every year, one in nine of all deaths. Nine out of 10 people breathe unclean air, making it the most significant environmental health risk of our time.
- Only 57 per cent of countrieshave a legal definition for air pollution. In 2019, 92 per cent of peopleexperienced air pollution in excess of safe World Health Organization guidelines.
- The most recent SDG monitoring cycle revealed that over 3 billion peopleare at risk because they don’t know enough about the health of surface and groundwater resources.
WASTE
- Under a business-as-usual scenario, annual plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple from 9-14 million tons in 2016 to 23-37 million tons by 2040.
- The total global economic cost of marine plastic pollution on tourism, fisheries and aquaculture is estimated to have been US$6-19 billion in 2018.
- From 1950 to 2017, an estimated 2 billion tons of plastic was produced, 7 billion tons of which has become waste.
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS YEAR?
Join people around the world, use events and actions to build your Earth Action Number, and share your impact with the world More info here
OUTCOMES
Read the World Environment Day 2022 Global Report. This report gives an in-depth analysis and insights on this year’s World Environment Day. The figures from the #OnlyOneEarth campaign are impressive: the #OnlyOneEarth campaign reached over 65 million people in over 165 countries and the #WorldEnvironmentDay hashtag was the top trending term on Twitter on 5 June. The high numbers reached by the campaign reaffirm the growing awareness and expanded reach of this international Day. World Environment Day has become a key strategic moment to advocate and advance environmental action for the planet.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Source:
- World Environment Day Website: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/
- UNEP Website: https://www.unep.org/
- UN website: https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-day
OIPA INDIA MAHARASHTRA
World Environment Day was celebrated at Sanjay Gandhi National Park jointly by the staff and volunteers of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD), Amma Care Foundation (ACF), Plant & Animals Welfare Society – Mumbai (PAWS-Mumbai) and International Organisation for Animals Protection (OIPA). Awareness on wildlife, wildlife crime and wildlife trade was conducted, where citizens, visitors, tourists and students were taken part in large number.
OIPA CAMEROON
On the 50th Edition of World Environment Day Celebration, OIPA Cameroon together with Bobo Leennox Arts and Design, Community Arts Center (COYAC) and Lum D Foundation joined in the tree planting exercise in Bamenda where over 300 trees where planted to protect the environment under the theme: “ONLY ONE EARTH” ‘Let us live sustainably in harmony with Nature.’
