New Delhi: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) celebrates June 5 of every year as World Environment Day (WED). It was started in 1972 and is intended to raise global awareness about the need to take act to better and save the environment.
The date of June 5 comes from the day that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began in Stockholm in 1972. It continued till June 16. The conference was hosted by the then Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, and was attended by the representatives of 113 countries, 19 inter-governmental agencies and more than 400 inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations. The meeting agreed upon a declaration containing 26 principles about the environment and development. An action plan with 109 recommendations was also drawn up.
The Stockholm meet is recognised as the beginning of modern political and public awareness of global environmental problems. Its most profound influence was on European policy making. In 1973, the EU created the Environmental and Consumer Protection Directorate and formulated the first environmental action programme.
Since 1973, the World Environment Day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with a week-long international exposition on the theme. For 2012, the Brazilian megapolis of Rio de Janeiro is the host....
more
10:05 AM, Jun 05, 2012
From Lowering the Carbon Footprint of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to Supporting Biodiversity in Brazil ... 
A UN report says climate change is turning weather systems extreme. ... 
