Asia Pacific Commemoration for World Environment Day 2024

World Environment Day 2024

Join the #GenerationRestoration action in Bangkok on 5 June!

World Environment Day is celebrated annually on 5 June to put a spotlight on environmental challenges of our time. World Environment Day 2024 focuses on land restoration, stopping desertification and building drought resilience. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the global host of this year's edition. 

Asia and the Pacific is exceptionally rich in biodiversity. Land-use changes and land degradation caused by factors such as extensive agriculture, deforestation and unmanaged urbanization and sprawl, are reducing the biodiversity of many land ecosystems. Healthy soils store massive amounts of carbon, which, if released, would cause a huge spike in planetary warming. Changes in water courses, pollution and unsustainable consumption of water resources are causing water-related stress and reduced aquatic biodiversity. Globally the equivalent of one football pitch of soil is eroded every 5 seconds. Yet, it takes 1,000 years to generate 3 centimetres of topsoil.

The Asia and the Pacific region, home to two-thirds of the world’s population, is facing increasing impacts of water stress and land degradation. These are being caused by a number of factors, including population growth, rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, and a changing climate that is accelerating droughts. The majority of people in Asia and the Pacific live in cities, with increasing urbanisation expected to increase the impacts of water stress and urban droughts. Cities produce more than half of global waste and at least 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, which result in polluting waterways and further reducing available freshwater.

Through the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), actors are scaling solutions for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, including in Asia and the Pacific, to increase drought and climate resilience and reduce land degradation. By restoring land and productive systems, humanity can secure a nature-positive, net-zero future, safeguarding a healthy planet for all.

On 5 June 2024, UNEP and ESCAP are bringing together partners and stakeholders in Asia and the Pacific to discuss priority areas on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience in the region. The event will explore solutions applicable for the region, such as circular water resource use, sustainable food production and drought resilient urban development.

Registration: https://indico.un.org/event/1011718/ 

Zoom link for online participation: https://zoom.us/j/92551030591 (passcode: WED@5June)