World Environment Day is dedicated to raising awareness to environment protection and is allocated a specific theme each year. 

Facts for 2024: The World Environment Day is marked on 5th June every year when the host for each year changes so does the theme allocated. This year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is hosting the global event on the theme “Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience”. The theme according to UNEP is, “a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”

History: The event is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). World Environment Day has been observed annually since 1973 and has grown into the largest environmental outreach programme with a large base. 

UNEP Chief Statement for World Environment Day 2024: Inger Andersen UNEP Chief commented, “The 2024 day is focusing on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience. As a nation facing degradation, desertification and drought, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is deeply invested in delivering solutions. The Kingdom is acting nationally and regionally through the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative. And it is acting globally, as we saw when the Saudi presidency of the G20 resulted in the adoption of the Global Land Restoration Initiative.”

UNEP Chief Inger Andersen highlighted Saudi Arabia’s proactive stance in tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. She further pressed about the urgency of the situation with billions of hectares of land currently degraded worldwide.

For the future, Andersen seemed optimistic about the global commitment to restore one billion hectares of land, a pledge that could have transformative effects on the planet. 

World Environment Day 2024 Campaign: Keeping a very futuristic attitude towards this World Environment Day, the official campaign talks about continuous efforts on our part which can revive, restore and regrow the environment. The campaign is well planned with #GenerationRestoration and a minute long video about the story of our earth. In the video ‘Earth’ is the narrator and they have maintained their optimistic approach to this theme as they continue to talk about this generation being the ones who can restore the environment. 

Watch the video here. 

World Environment Day happens once a year but the steps to restore and save the Earth’s health is a continued effort. Each nation dedicates teams and funds to save nature but the process to save Earth starts from our homes. 

To know the regular updates on World Environment Day 2024, click here.