- World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5th June and is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
- First held in 1974, it has been a platform for raising awareness on environmental issue such as marine pollution, human overpopulation, global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.
- World Environment Day is a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually.
- Each year, the program has provided a theme and forum for businesses, non government organizations, communities, governments and celebrities to advocate environmental causes.
- The theme of 2021 World Environment Day is Ecosystem Restoration. Pakistan will act as global host of the day.
- World Environment Day 2021 will see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
- World Environment Day (WED) was created on the first day of the first-ever UN conference which focused on humans and how they interact with the environment.
- World Environment Day was established in 1972 by the United Nations at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, that had resulted from discussions on the integration of human interactions and the environment.
- Two years later, in 1974 the first WED was held with the theme “Only One Earth”.
- Even though WED celebration have been held annually since 1974, in 1987 the idea for rotating the centre of these activities through selecting different host countries began
- An Earth Anthem penned by poet Abhay K is sung to celebrate World Environment Day.
- The anthem was launched in June 2013 on the occasion of the World Environment Day by KapilSibal and Shashi Tharoor, then Union Ministers of India, at a function organized by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations in New Delhi.
- It is supported by the global organization Habitat For Humanity.
