Manaus Agile Amazonas tourism and cultureIn 1972 the United Nations Organization (UNO) established the World Environment Daywhich is now celebrated every June 5th.
O World Environment Day is the most important annual event to promote actions in favor of nature. This year, the host country is Canada and the chosen theme, 'Connecting people to nature', will be the axis of celebrations across the planet amid the hangover brought on by the US president's decision to withdraw his country from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
World Environment Day is a day for all people everywhere. Since it was instituted in 1972, citizens all over the planet have organized thousands of events related to it: from neighborhood clean-up campaigns to actions to fight environmental crimes, to reforestation activities. This year, the UN considers that Trump's recent decision cannot overshadow or slow down the worldwide celebration, quite the contrary.
This day brings us the opportunity to win over public opinion and improve the awareness, conduct, and responsibility of individuals, companies, and social groups regarding the preservation of the environment. World Environment Day has been gaining prominence since it began and is now a global outreach platform with wide repercussions around the globe.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which declares the determination to "ensure lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources," has undoubtedly contributed to this. Specifically, goals 14 and 15 focus on the conservation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems as well as the sustainable use of these resources.
The theme of World Environment Day 2017 is connecting people with nature, and encourages us to step into nature to appreciate its beauty and reflect on how integral we are and how much we depend on it. It challenges us to discover fun and exciting ways to experience and promote this interrelationship.
In fact, millions of rural dwellers around the world spend their daily journey in connection with nature and are fully aware that they depend on it for the most basic things: access to water and soil fertility. These people are the first to suffer from the threats facing ecosystems today, whether from pollution, climate change, or the overexploitation of natural resources.
The importance that nature has always had in our lives and the need to preserve and value it has led economists to develop ways to measure the multi-million-dollar value of so-called 'ecosystem services', ranging from the activity of insects pollinating fruit trees to the health benefits of hiking in the wild.
This year's slogan for World Environment Day, 'I am with nature,' received one-third of the votes in the worldwide poll conducted last month, beating out three other finalist proposals. The winning slogan particularly appealed to Arabic and English speakers.
To celebrate this journey of recognition, awareness and enjoyment of nature, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will use the hashtags #ComaNature and #WorldEnvironmentDay in the messages posted on social networks about this event, which will begin with an invitation to followers to talk about their favorite national park or wildlife refuge they like the most.
