Pakistan to host World Environment Day 2021

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on June 5, to remind humans that they are not alone on this planet. There is a huge biological ecosystem and humans’ own survival is dependent on that.

The day is observed by United Nations to create worldwide awareness and work towards improving the environment.

World environment day is celebrated by millions of people and organizations across the globe to share their experiences, challenges, and solutions.

Every year responsibility is given to a country to host the event and discuss Sustainable Development Goals.

Over 150 countries participate each year under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Last year, World Environment Day was hosted by Colombia, in partnership with Germany. The theme of the 2020 event was biodiversity.

This year the baton is given to Pakistan to host World Environment Day 2021. The theme for this year will be ecosystem restoration, with a special focus on creating a good relationship with nature.

This year’s event will mark the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030. In the next 10 years, the United Nation with the support of countries, partners, and people want to focus on preventing and reversing the loss of degraded natural ecosystems to fight the impacts of climate change.

It is a no-brainer that the revival of forests could greatly reduce carbon emissions and help in the control of greenhouse gases (GHG).

The end of this decade i.e. 2030 is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the timeline that scientists identified significant to evade the consequences of climate change.

Why Pakistan will host World Environment Day?

The government of Pakistan took up massive afforestation drive through a “10 Billion Tree Tsunami” spread over 5 years. The ambitious project included restoring mangroves, increasing forest cover, planting trees in urban settings, including schools, colleges, public parks, and green belts. As per reports 6.3% forest cover was increased in that period.

Recently, Pakistan launched a new platform “Ecosystem Restoration Fund” to create green jobs, support nature-based solutions to fight climate change, and promote biodiversity conservation.

Here is a report from the world economic forum (WEF) highlighting Pakistan’s plans for green recovery.

In the Global Climate Risk Index annual report 2020, Pakistan was placed on the fifth spot on the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change. As per the report, Pakistan endured economic losses worth $3.8 billion due to climate-related disasters.

Climate change and melting glaciers of the Himalayas pose a huge risk of extreme weather events like flash floods, droughts, and rainfall in Pakistan. The report mentions that more than 150 such events occurred in the country from 1999 to 2018.

Assigning the responsibility to Pakistan to host World Environment Day will usher in renewed focus and attention towards the environment in the region.

Wrapping up

World Environment Day is a once-a-year activity, it doesn’t mean that we should look at the environment only on that day. Irrespective of the day, organization, event, country, and theme – preserving nature is our everyday responsibility.

Bring a change in your lifestyle, see how we can live in harmony with nature, make little alterations in our lifestyle routines.
Educate other people, this is not a fight we can win alone, even if we are able to create awareness to a small minority of people, it can create a world of difference.
Create awareness among the younger generation, tell them aspects about nature and the significance of birds, animals, insects, ecology, etc. Here is one grandma story which you can narrate to young children to give them a perspective of living harmoniously with nature.
Watch movies and documentaries to get educated and familiarised with the concepts.
Respect Biodiversity & nature. Biodiversity plays an important role in offering ecological services that make life livable on Earth. Each species, no matter how big or small, has a mind-boggling impact on the ecosystem.