ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CU)_Pakistan will host its inaugural global World Environment Day celebrations to raise awareness of the need for effective actions among the masses and stakeholders as well as the rest of the world to join hands to conserve the increasingly declining ecology and habitats as a result of climate change. The decision to make Pakistan the host country was made on the virtual 5th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
This year, Pakistan will host World Environment Day 2021 in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), with Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UNEP, digitally joining the festivities flanked by Malik Amin Aslam, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change (SAPM). Pakistan was chosen as the host country for World Environment Day for its global leadership in environmental conservation and protection through a number of policies and programmes currently in place.
Last year, Pakistan also reached the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-13) of Climate Action, which had a deadline of 2030. PM Imran Khan’s Clean Green Pakistan Scheme, Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Protected Areas Projects, Ban on Single Use Plastic Bags, Recharge Pakistan Program, and Urban Resilient Human Settlement Project were among the leading initiatives launched by the Ministry of Climate Change, all of which were lauded by the international community as genuinely environment-friendly and healing interventions.
The theme for this year is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’ with an emphasis on resuming relationships with nature and supporting projects that encourage nature-based solutions. It is the United Nations’ signature day for fostering global environmental consciousness and action. It has emerged and bloomed to be the largest global forum for environmental public outreach, with millions of people around the world celebrating it. The United Nations Decade stretches from 2021 to 2030, which is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, and according to scientists, the last opportunity to escape catastrophic climate change.
