World Environment Day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a tree plantation campaign by planting a sapling at his official residence 7, Race Course Road on World Environment Day on Friday. The World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment.

Over the years it has grown to be a broad, global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by stakeholders in over 100 countries. It also serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for the environment, galvanizing individual actions into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the planet.

Already, heat wave, tsunamis, and climate change are impacting our life. By 2050, if current consumption and production patterns remain the same and with a rising population expected to reach 9.6 billion, we will need three planets to sustain our ways of living and consumption, says United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This year, the theme for the World Environment Day (WED) which falls on June 5 is "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care."

The well-being of humanity, the environment, and the functioning of the economy, ultimately depend upon the responsible management of the planet’s natural resources. Consuming with care means living within planetary boundaries to ensure a healthy future where our dreams can be realised. Human prosperity need not cost the earth.

Through decades of WED celebrations, hundreds of thousands of people from countries all over the world and from all sectors of society have participated in individual and organized environmental action. WED 2014 received a total of 6,437 pledges and over 3,000 activities were registered online, resulting in a total of about 9,700 which is triple to the previous two years.

In India, a bill in Parliament has been tabled to release an amount of nearly Rs.35,000 crore to all the states to fasten the efforts of restoring the barren forest areas and to adopt the wildlife management practices. It will also help in achieving the Green India Mission records and to generate employment in rural and tribal areas of India.