This year's World Environment Day focused on restoring natural ecosystems to their former glory. It is still critical that the world unite to revive and restore millions of ecosystems for the benefit of the next generation.
In partnership with UNEP, this year’s World Environment Day was hosted by Pakistan and served as a formal launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, multiple speakers at the event stressed the importance of revitalising global efforts to end climate change and promote sustainable development.
“The degradation of the natural world is already undermining the well-being of 3.2 billion people - or 40 per cent of humanity. Luckily, the Earth is resilient. But she needs our help. We still have time to reverse the damage we have done,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said. “This global movement will bring together governments, businesses, civil society and private citizens in an unprecedented effort to heal the Earth,” he added.
The burgeoning global movement made its presence felt on social media throughout the whole day. The UNEP challenged users on TikTok to share how they are taking action to restore their ecosystem using the #GenerationRestoration hashtag. The hashtag videos have been viewed over 40 million times, with contributions from influencers including UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors Alex Rendell and Antoinette Taus.
World Environment Day is over but the work has just started. The UN Decade aims to mobilize hundreds of millions of people in the hopes of restoring nature and fostering a global culture dedicated to restoration initiatives across the planet.