“Only One Earth,” the theme of this year’s World Environment Day, underlines the significance of preserving biodiversity and protecting ecosystems so as to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature.
“In the universe are billions of galaxies. In our galaxy are billions of planets. But there is #OnlyOneEarth. Let’s take care of it,” the United Nations said on its website, highlighting ways to reverse the destruction of nature.
One day ahead of World Environment Day, which falls on June 5 annually, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday urged businesses worldwide to put sustainability at the heart of their decision-making for the sake of humanity and their own bottom line.
“We are asking too much of our planet to maintain ways of life that are unsustainable,” and this hurts not only Earth but also its inhabitants, the UN chief said.
“This planet is our only home,” the top UN official said, warning the planet “cannot keep up with our demands.” It is of utmost importance to safeguard the “health of the planet, including its atmosphere, ecosystems and finite resources,” Guterres emphasized.
Themed “work together to build a clean and beautiful world,” China’s national event marking the 2022 World Environment Day was held on Sunday in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province.
China has achieved inspiring and remarkable outcomes in fighting climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said on Sunday, commending China’s measures on mainstreaming biodiversity, including establishing national parks and drawing up ecological redlines.
At the Thomas van der Hammen Forest Reserve in Bogota, Colombian musicians worked side by side with locals on the World Environment Day, accompanied by nature sounds compiled over three years under the “Bosque Sonoro” initiative.
Combined with a reforestation project led by the citizen collective Sembradores van der Hammen, the initiative has resumed its activities suspended during the pandemic by planting native aliso and hayuelo plant species in the reserve.
“Natural spaces in cities are very important because they give us oxygen, they give us quality of life. They can even protect us from future pandemics, if we have healthy biodiversity in green spaces with oxygen and that we can visit,” musician and environmental activist Hector Buitrago told Xinhua.
Pakistan, one of top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, highly values the global efforts to combat climate change, halt and reverse biodiversity loss, reduce pollution, and restore ecosystems, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The South Asian country is already in the midst of one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to expand and restore its forests, according to the foreign ministry.
“We reaffirm our resolve in taking action on combating climate change, protecting biological diversity, and reversing ecosystem degradation,” said the foreign ministry.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that India’s efforts to protect the environment have been multifaceted.
“India is working on a long-term vision in collaboration with the international community on protecting the environment and established organizations like Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, International Solar Alliance,” he said in a speech marking the World Environment Day.
Ethiopia has recently embarked on an ambitious tree-planting initiative, planting over 350 million trees in a single day.
“As a nation, we are committed to environmental protection. In Ethiopia, we brought environmental protection to the level of the constitution,” said Getahun Garedew, director-general of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority (EEPA).
This year’s edition of the annual World Environment Day celebrations is a four-day affair in Ethiopia, hosted by the EEPA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), featuring activities ranging from awareness-raising panel discussions, exhibitions to promotion of environment-friendly initiatives.
UNEP representative to Ethiopia Margaret Oduk said the global community should rethink the current business-as-usual modality as the world is faced with “a nature emergency mode.”
“We only have one planet; we only have one earth that we have to live on. So we must protect it as it is our only home,” Oduk said.
