World Environment Day (5 June) : Let’s Clean Up

World Environment Day is the UN’s most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

World Environment Day is held each year on June 5. It is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations (UN) stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

World Environment Day was established in 1972 during the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

It is hosted every year by a different city and commemorated with an international exposition through the week of June 5.

First held in 1974, it has been a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution, human overpopulation, and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.

It has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.

Every World Environment Day has a different global host country, where the official celebrations take place. The focus on the host country helps highlight the environmental challenges it faces, and supports the effort to address them.

This year’s host is India; India is the global host nation for the 43rd edition of this event.

Each World Environment Day is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern.

The theme for the year 2018 is “Beat Plastic Pollution”.
Plastic, which is rampantly polluting our water bodies, harming marine life and posing a threat to human health, has been one of the major concerns of environmental bodies this year.

Interesting Facts related to Our Constitution and Environment:

The preamble to our constitution ensures socialist pattern of the society and dignity of the individual. Decent standard of living and pollution free environment is inherent in this. Healthy environment is also one of the elements of welfare state.

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 defines environment as “environment includes water, air and land and the interrelationship which exists among and between air, water and land and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property”.

The chapter on fundamental duties of the Indian Constitution clearly imposes duty on every citizen to protect environment.
Article 51-A (g), says that “It shall be duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and to have compassion for living creatures.”