Today, on 5th of June, the whole world is celebrating the World Environment Day. Have you ever wondered why it is celebrated on this day, what are the purposes of it and why the world is concerned about the environment?
Let’s find out the reasons and see whether the aims which it has dreamt been completed or not.
History:
After the conclusion of 2nd World War, big powers like U.S.A., U.K., U.S.S.R., France, etc. got engaged in the unconditional industrialization and exploitation of earthly materials that led the world to another dangerous alarming situation of hampering the environment. The Earth has limited resources and all the big states were exploiting them for their greedy interests. United Nations, assuming the danger, called for a conference named “United Nations Conference on Human Environment” in Stockholm, Sweden from 5th June to 16th June 1972. From that day, every year on 5th June U.N. celebrates World Environment Day or Eco Day or WED. The celebration started in 1973 with the particular theme “Only one Earth”. Since 1974, the celebration campaign of the world environment day is hosted in different cities of the world.
Aims & Objectives:
WED was started to address the huge environmental issues like increasing global warming, wastage and losses of food, deforestation, and much more. Every year celebration has it’s particular theme and slogan of the year to bring effectiveness in the campaign all through the world.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Connecting people to nature”, and Canada is hosting the celebration.
It is aimed to successfully get carbon neutrality, focusing on the forest management, reducing greenhouse effects, promoting biofuels production by planting on degraded lands, use of hydro-power to enhance electricity production, encourage common public to use solar water heaters, energy production through solar sources, developing new drainage systems, promoting coral reefs and mangroves restoration in order to get prevented from flooding and erosion including other ways of environmental preservation.
Main objectives of the World Environment Day campaign are mentioned below:
- To aware the common public about the environmental issues.
- To encourage common people from different society and communities to actively participate in the celebration as well as become an active agent in developing environmental safety measures.
- To let them know that community people are essential to inhibit negative changes towards the environmental issues.
- To encourage people to make their nearby surroundings safe and clean to enjoy safer, cleaner and more prosperous future.
The role of United Nations in Environment Protection:
Since the establishment of United Nations Environment Programme in 1972 to Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, United Nations has played a vital part in saving the environment as well as in uplifting it. In 1992, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro where more than 100 member states participated. Agenda 21 regarding the objectives of the conference was passed And created United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development to oversee the plan’s implementation by international agencies, governmental bodies and civil societies worldwide. More than 220 convention and treaties
Agenda 21 regarding the objectives of the conference was passed And created United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development to oversee the plan’s implementation by international agencies, governmental bodies and civil societies worldwide. More than 220 convention and treaties have been done on the issues related to the environment and most of them have been quite successful too.
Some important Conventions on Environment are Johannesburg conference 2002, Kyoto Protocol 1997, Copenhagen conference 2009 and the most recent, the Paris Agreement, 2016.
Paris Conference, 2016: Highlights
The Paris Agreement (French: Accord de Paris) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020.
- It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 (Earth Day) at a ceremony in New York. As of December 2016, 194 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty, 131 of which have ratified it.
- The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions pledged during the 2015 Climate Change Conference serve—unless provided otherwise—as the initial nationally determined contribution.
- The emission reduction efforts will be made in order to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 ̊C by reducing emissions to 40 gigatonnes or to 1.5 ̊
- The implementation of the agreement by all member countries together will be evaluated every 5 years, with the first evaluation in 2023.
- The Paris Agreement has a ‘bottom up’ structure in contrast to most international environmental law treaties which are ‘top down’, characterized by standards and targets set internationally, for states to implement.
- Unlike, the Kyoto Protocol, which sets commitment targets that have legal force, the Paris Agreement, with its emphasis on consensus-building, allows for voluntary and nationally determined targets.
The Paris Agreement still emphasizes the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility”—the acknowledgment that different nations have different capacities and duties to climate action—it does not provide a specific division between developed and developing nations.
The SDM is considered to be the successor to the Clean Development Mechanism, a flexible mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol, by which parties could collaboratively pursue emissions reductions for their INDCs. The Sustainable Development Mechanism lays the framework for the future of the Clean Development Mechanism post-Kyoto (in 2020).
Not part of the Paris Agreement (and not legally binding)is a plan to provide US$100 billion a year in aid to developing countries for implementing new procedures to minimize climate change with additional amounts to be provided in subsequent years (The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a fund within the framework of the UNFCCC )
The agreement stated that it would enter into force (and thus become fully effective) only if 55 countries that produce at least 55% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. (US and China together contribute 40% of the emissions.)
SOURCE OF INFORMATION:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement
Prelims Capsule : Major Conferences, Conventions, Protocols in Environment and Ecology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit
http://www.indiacelebrating.com/events/world-environment-day/
Kailasha Foundation – Bringing Solutions To You
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn for regular updates.
