Millions of people around the world unite today to combat climate change on World Environment Day 2009

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Commemorated every year on 5 June in more than 100 countries around the globe, World Environment Day is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and boosts political attention and action.

This year's theme is Your Planet needs You! Unite to combat climate change - a topic that reflects everyone's individual responsibility to protect the planet, as well as the urgency for nations to agree on a new climate change deal in December.

This year's host is Mexico, reflecting the country's growing role in the fight against climate change - with its increasingly strong participation in global carbon markets, its massive tree planting campaigns and its natural resource management.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “On this WED, I encourage all people to take concrete steps toward making the planet greener and cleaner. Switch off the lights. Take public transportation. Recycle. Plant a tree. Clean up your local park. Hold corporations responsible for their environmental practices. And urge your government representatives to Seal the Deal in Copenhagen.”

Climate Heroes

Another highlight of this year's WED is the launch of the Climate Heroes project. This UNEP initiative supports individuals who are undertaking exceptional personal feats, high-profile expeditions, and other acts of environmental activism to demonstrate their commitment and to raise awareness for the simple idea that 'Your Planet Needs You'.

The Climate Heroes include:

-          Roz Savage, who is rowing across the Pacific Ocean to inspire people to take action on CO₂ levels by walking more and driving less;

-          Charles and Sho Scott of Ride Japan, a father-and-son team cycling through Japan to raise environmental awareness;

-          Chinese environmental photographer Luo Hong who is currently staging a major exhibit at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and whose Luo Hong Environment Foundation trains and rewards youth worldwide working in environmental protection;

-          Project Kaisei, a team of innovators who are studying how to capture waste in the ocean, detoxify it, and recycle it into diesel fuel.

Thousands of activities around the world

Some of the initiatives that are taking place today include a wave of tree planting as part of UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign, which aims to see 7 billion trees planted by the end of 2009. New partners who have recently come on board include the Scout Movement and the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Tree plantings will range from the massive to the local, with 20,000 mangroves to be planted in Keddah (Malaysia) as well as small-scale plantings by communities around the world, from Sierra Leone to India. The UNEP will also plant one tree for every person who follows its new Twitter page www.twitter.com/UNEPandYou by 5 June.

UNEP will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the organizers of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, whereby UNEP will advise the Olympic organisers in their efforts to green the Games - including issues like sustainable transport, renewable energy, ecosystems management, and green procurement among others.

In his general speech for World Environment Day given in Mexico yesterday, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Programme Executive Director, highlighted that: “WED is an opportunity for the six billion citizens of this planet to signal by words, but especially by deeds, that they want real and transformational action from their politicians and world leaders.” However, he also warned that: “Ban Ki-Moon has called 2009 the ‘Year of Climate Change’ [although] it is now a year which is half way through and going fast.”

World Environment Day 2009 comes just under 190 days before the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen. As millions of people around the world celebrate the event, in the spirit of the WED slogan 'Unite to combat climate change', the UN has launched the Seal the Deal campaign to call for world leaders to agree on a climate change deal before the year is out.

For additional information:

http://http://www.unep.org/wed/