World Environment Day

• 06 Jun 2024

Why in News?

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5^th June every year to encourage awareness and environmental protection.

Key Points

• Recently, in a remarkable initiative to combat deforestation two environmentalists, Jai Dhar Gupta and Vijay Dhasmana created India's first biosphere in a tiger reserve, called the Rajaji Raghati Biosphere (RRB) within the Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand.
• The biosphere is a 35-acre private forest initiative aimed at identifying and reviving rare and endangered species of native trees while protecting the area from poachers and mining.
  • The land earmarked for RRB was previously barren and in a state of degradation.
• They are also developing a second biosphere above the Koyna River in the buffer zone of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve near Pune, Maharashtra, along the Western Ghats.

World Environment Day

• About:
  • The United Nations Assembly established World Environment Day in 1972, which was the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the human environment.
  • World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year with a specific theme and slogan that focuses on the major environmental issues of that time.
    • WED 2024 is hosted by Saudi Arabia.
    • India hosted the 45th celebration of World Environment Day in 2018 under the theme ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’.
  • WED celebration in 2021 kicked off the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) which is a global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands, from the top of mountains to the depth of the seas.
• The Theme for 2024:
  • Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience
  • Year 2024 also marks the 30^th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).