Let’s protect our only earth
The environment is a shared global treasure that must be conserved. This is a natural heritage whose protection is at the core of the World Environment Day, which is observed annually on June 5.
This year, the world is celebrating the 49th World Environment Day, under the leadership of the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (Unep).
Through this UN agency, Kenya has had a front-row seat in efforts to roll back the consequences of global environmental degradation. This day is the largest global platform for environmental outreach marked by millions of people.
The celebration marks five decades since the UN Conference on the Human Environment took place in Sweden, leading to the adoption of the World Environment Day. Its other major outcome was the establishment of Unep. ‘Only One Earth’, which was the slogan of the first conference held in Stockholm in 1972, is the theme of this year’s event in the same city. It symbolises and emphasizes the need for sustainable co-existence with nature.
Sustainable environment
The UN has been championing global awareness to create a sustainable environment. The issues of major concern include desertification, which is said to have already claimed 75 per cent of the earth’s surface. It is now feared that the degradation could hit a whopping 90 per cent by 2050, if no tangible action is taken. Secondly, there is the climate change menace as a result of global warming, one of the most devastating problems of this century.
Another menace is plastic pollution. Some 14 million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans every year, resulting in the death of marine life. There is, therefore, an urgent need to help reverse the degradation.
Kenya, which faces many challenges, including deforestation, land degradation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity and pollution from industry, has won accolades for its practical steps, especially its ban on single-use plastics. The war on plastic waste and other forms of pollution must be stepped up.
