On 5 June every year, the United Nations Environment Programme celebrates World Environment Day in coordination with various governmental and non0governmental agencies throughout the world. We find out the reason behind the celebration of the day.

A different city gets to host the WED every year

The UN allows a different city to host the World Environment Day every year. This means that different regions of the world and their environmental problems are bought into global focus each year. The week in which June 5^th falls, the UNEP bring international spotlight onto a particular theme which allows it to present staggering stats and information which would otherwise not get as much attention if released otherwise.

It highlights environmental problems

In 1973, the first World Environment Day was celebrated. The day is considered ideal for eh celebration as it falls in autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and in spring in the Northern Hemisphere.  Just like all other problems that the UN works towards addressing, WED too helps the organization prompt government into actually taking corrective action by allowing intergovernmental forums to discuss the problems of the global environment and its political, social and economic impact on individual nations.

WED themes allow the UN to target key environmental problems

For the year 2013, the theme of Think.Eat.Save. was adopted for the year’s World Environment Day. The campaign that was spun around this theme focused on address the problem of food wastage, its impact on the global carbon footprint of people, lifestyle issues that are driving food wastage up and the overall impact of such wastage on food production and supply through the world. By adopting a theme every year, the UN is able to address not only a key environmental problem but also its causes and what solutions are needed to counter them.