6 cool facts about World Environment Day

Happy World Environment Day! This years theme is biodiversity, it was chosen due to recent events such as the bushfires in Australia, the global pandemic and the millions of species that are in danger.

1. WED was established in 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly, the first WED was held in 1973 but the first year with a theme was in 1974. It was hosted by the United States and the theme was “Only one Earth during Expo ’74” (the first environmental-themed world fair).
2. This year its host is Columbia in partnership with Germany.
3. Columbia is considered one of the largest ‘megadiverse country’ which is where it has the majority of Earth’s species and high numbers of endemic species (only exist in one geographical region).
4. There’s a WED anthem written by poet Abhay K, it was launched in 2013 and is sung each year.
5. The UN emphasise that it should be seen as ‘people day’ where individuals and the government think about ways they can make their lives more eco and how they can use less of the earth’s non-renewable resources.
6. There’s participation from over 143 countries each year.

Obviously, due to the global pandemic, there can’t be events in person but there are lots of live events that were on today and are on tomorrow and Sunday which are free (from what I’ve heard). Click here for the World Environment Day website. Some events you have to register beforehand, whilst others are on their website or on Instagram.

Related: World sea turtle day

Best wishes, C x