Our Actions Matter!
Since 1974, World Environment Day has been celebrated every year on 5 June, engaging governments, businesses, and citizens to address pressing environmental issues.
 THE THEME
For too long, we have been exploiting and destroying our planet’s ecosystems. Every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to cover a football pitch and over the last century, we have destroyed half of our wetlands. As much as 50 percent of our coral reefs have already been lost and up to 90 percent of coral reefs could be lost by 2050, even if global warming is limited to an increase of 1.5°C.
Ecosystem restoration means preventing, halting, and reversing this damage – to go from exploiting nature to healing it. This World Environment Day will kick off the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands, from the top of mountains to the depth of the sea.
Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity.
THE BIG PICTURE
Restoration and other natural solutions can deliver one-third of the mitigation needed by 2030 to keep global warming below 2C while also helping societies and economies adapt to climate change. (Griscom et al., 2017; Kapos et al., 2019 )
Restoring 15% of converted lands in the right places could prevent 60% of projected species extinctions. (Strassburg et al., 2020)
Ecosystem restoration contributes to the achievement of all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals by their 2030 target date, including the elimination of poverty and hunger. (IRP, 2019)
World Environment Day 2021 will see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: A global rallying cry for everyone – from governments to corporations and citizens – to do their part in healing our ailing planet.Â
THE COMMUNITY
Above all, World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive change. It encourages individuals to think about the way they consume; businesses to develop greener models; farmers and manufacturers to produce more sustainably; governments to invest in repairing the environment; educators to inspire students to take action, and youth to build a greener future. Â
Support and learn more go to https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/
Read more about the project UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Read more about the Restoration and other natural solutions Griscom et al., 2017;Â Kapos et al., 2019
Everybody living on this planet, at this moment in time can be a part of #GenerationRestoration
