The United Nations in 1972 declared June 05 as World Environment Day to raise public awareness about the need to preserve and improve the environment.
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). World Environment Day (WED) is the occasion for all to realise that it is the responsibility of everyone to care for the Earth and also become agent of change. It is 'people's day' for doing something positive for the environment.
The theme of the World Environment Day, this year is: 'Connect with Nature.' It is the biggest annual event for positive environmental action. Canada, the host country this year, will be at the centre of celebrations around the planet. There will also be some World Environment Day-related outreach activities in Brussels in the month of June.
World Environment Day is for everyone, everywhere: whether you live in a city or the countryside, in the developed or developing world, in the invigorating chill of cold regions or the sultry heat of the tropics. Since it began in 1972, global citizens have organised many thousands of events, from neighbourhood clean-ups, to action against the illegal trade in wildlife, to replanting forests.
'Connecting People to Nature', the theme for World Environment Day 2017, implores us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share. This year's theme also invites us to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it. It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship.
The world's oceans, forests and soils act as vast stores for greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane; farmers and fisher-folk harness nature on land and under water to provide us with food; scientists develop medicines using genetic material drawn from the millions of species that make up Earth's astounding biological diversity.
Billions of rural people around the world spend every working day 'connected to nature' and appreciate full well their dependence on natural water supplies and how nature provides their livelihoods in the form of fertile soil. They are among the first to suffer when ecosystems are threatened, whether by pollution, climate change or over-exploitation.
Nature's gifts are often hard to value in monetary terms. Like clean air, they are often taken for granted, at least until they become scarce. However, economists are developing ways to measure the multi-trillion-dollar worth of many so-called 'ecosystem services', from insects pollinating fruit trees in the orchards of California to the leisure, health and spiritual benefits of a hike up a Himalayan valley.
We can also connect with nature in the city, where major parks can be a green lung and a hub of biodiversity. We can do our bit to green the urban environment, by greening our street or a derelict site, or planting a window box.
"We can enjoy nature year-round, but World Environment Day is when the whole world comes together to celebrate our beautiful planet," said Erik Solheim, the head of UN Environment. "It reminds us of what a treasure nature is, and encourages us all to protect and appreciate our environment."
UNEP and the Government of Canada will today call on citizens all over the world to think about how we depend on nature, and to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish that vital relationship.
In the age of asphalt and smartphones and among the distractions of modern life, our connectivity with nature is waning alarmingly. But with our help, World Environment Day can make clearer than ever that we need harmony between humanity and nature so that both are able to thrive, because 'the earth laughs in flowers.'
The writer is the Deputy Managing Director & Chief Business Officer of Prime Bank Ltd. He is the fellow member of Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and also first Certified Sustainability Reporting Assurer (CSRA) in Bangladesh.
touhid@primebank.com.bd
