WED

2010
INSPIRING EXAMPLES
Every year people around the globe celebrate WED in a variety of ways, including street rallies, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools,

The illustration is an adaptation of “we love nature” by Kapitza

tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more. In 2009, there were WED activities registered on the website from more than 80 countries.
West Asia: IRAQ • JORDAN • KUWAIT • LEBANON 2003 World Environment Day Global Host • OMAN • OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES • QATAR • SAUDI ARABIA • UNITED ARAB EMIRATES • North America: CANADA • UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA 2005 World Environment Day Global Host • Latin America and the Caribbean: ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA • ARGENTINA • BAHAMAS • BELIZE • BRAZIL • CHILE • COLOMBIA • COSTA RICA • CUBA 2001 World Environment
Day Global Host • DOMINICAN REPUBLIC • ECUADOR • GRENADA • GUYANA • HAITI • JAMAICA • MEXICO 2009 World Environment Day Global Host • NICARAGUA • PANAMA • PARAGUAY • SAINT LUCIA • TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
• URUGUAY • Europe: ALBANIA • ARMENIA • AUSTRIA • AZERBAIJAN • BELGIUM • BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA • BULGARIA • CROATIA • CYPRUS • CZECH REPUBLIC • FINLAND • FRANCE • GEORGIA • GERMANY • GREECE •
IRELAND • ITALY 2001 World Environment Day Global Host • LITHUANIA • MACEDONIA • MALTA • MOLDOVA • MONACO • MONTENEGRO • NETHERLANDS • NORWAY 2007 World Environment Day Global Host • POLAND • PORTUGAL
• ROMANIA • RUSSIAN FEDERATION • SERBIA • SLOVAKIA • SPAIN 2004 World Environment Day Global Host • SWITZERLAND • TURKEY • UKRAINE • UNITED KINGDOM • Asia and the Pacific: AFGHANISTAN • AUSTRALIA 2000 World
Environment Day Global Host • BANGLADESH • BHUTAN • BRUNEI • CAMBODIA • CHINA 2002 World Environment Day Global Host • COOK ISLANDS • FIJI • INDIA • INDONESIA • IRAN • JAPAN • KAZAKHSTAN • KOREA (DPR) • KYRGYZSTAN
• LAO PDR • MALAYSIA • MALDIVES • MICRONESIA • MONGOLIA • MYANMAR • NEPAL • NEW ZEALAND 2008 World Environment Day Global Host • PAKISTAN • PAPUA NEW GUINEA • PHILIPPINES • SINGAPORE • SRI LANKA •
TAHITI • TAJIKISTAN • TIMOR-LESTE • TONGA • UZBEKISTAN • VIETNAM • Africa: ALGERIA 2006 World Environment Day Global Host • ANGOLA • BENIN • BOTSWANA • BURKINA FASO • BURUNDI • CAMEROON • CENTRAL AFRICAN
Many Species • One Planet • One Future REPUBLIC • CHAD • DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO • REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO • EGYPT • ETHIOPIA • GABON • THE GAMBIA • GHANA • GUINEA-BISSAU • KENYA • LESOTHO • LIBERIA • LIBYA • MADAGASCAR
• MAURITIUS • MOROCCO • MOZAMBIQUE • NAMIBIA • NIGERIA • RWANDA 2010 World Environment Day Global Host • SENEGAL • SIERRA LEONE • SOMALIA • SOUTH AFRICA • SWAZILAND • TANZANIA • UGANDA • ZIMBABWE •

WED 2010 Urges Action
to Stop Biodiversity Loss
Did you know that you are one in a million? Or more precisely,
one of millions on this wondrous planet - anywhere in fact
between an estimated 5 to 100 million species. If you think
about it that means there is a lot we still don’t know about
our planet, or whom we share it with. We do know though
that humans are among only a handful of species whose
populations are growing, while many animals and plants are
becoming rarer and fewer.
A total of 17,291 species are known to be threatened with
extinction, but this is just the tip of the iceberg; many species
disappear before they are even discovered. Human activities
are mostly to blame – what we use, where we live and what
we consume, all have an impact on the Earth’s resources.
As a result, we are risking the loss of the very foundation of
survival. The variety of life – known as ‘biodiversity’ – gives us
our food, clothes, fuel, medicine and much more. When one
species is taken out of the intricate web of life, it can trigger a
domino effect with unforeseen consequences.
At the same time, humans do have the power to stem the
tide of extinction. Through conservation action, we have
brought species back from the brink and restored vital natural
habitats. But, we need to do much more and faster.
The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year
of Biodiversity to stress the importance of biodiversity for
human well-being and encourage a redoubling of our efforts
to reduce biodiversity loss.
The theme of World Environment Day (WED) 2010, “Many
Species. One Planet. One Future.” echoes this urgent call to
conserve the diversity of life on our planet.
WED 2010 Aims to be the Biggest Day
for Environmental Action
World Environment Day (WED) 2010 aims to be the biggest,
most widely celebrated, global day for positive, environmental
action.
Commemorated on 5 June since 1972, WED is one of the
principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide
awareness of the environment and encourages political
attention and action.
Through WED, we are able to give a human face to
environmental issues and enable people to realize not only
their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for
change in support of sustainable and equitable development.
WED is also a day for advocating partnerships among all
stakeholders or perhaps, even more correctly, among all
species living on this one planet and sharing a common future.
WED 2010 could be the biggest WED celebration ever and
we count on you to make this happen! We call for action –
organize a neighborhood clean-up, stop using plastic bags and
get your community to do the same, plant a tree or better yet
organize a collective tree planting effort, walk to work, start a
recycling drive . . . the possibilities are endless.
WED 2010 will be hosted by Rwanda, under the theme: “Many
Species. One Planet. One Future.”
UN Secretary-General Sounds Alarm
for Biodiversity
Biodiversity, the incredible variety
of life on Earth that sustains
us, is in peril. Species are
becoming extinct at the fastest
rate ever recorded. Most of
these extinctions are tied to
human activities that are polluting
and depleting water resources,
changing and degrading habitats
and altering the global climate.
From frogs to gorillas, from huge
plants to tiny insects, thousands of
species are in jeopardy.
The theme of this year’s World Environment Day, “Many
Species. One Planet. One Future”, echoes the call of the
International Year of Biodiversity to stop this mass extinction
and raise awareness about the vital importance of the millions
of species that inhabit our planet’s soils, forests, oceans, coral
reefs and mountains. Our health, well-being and sustainable
future depend on this intricate, delicate web of ecosystems
and life.
The global host of the 2010 WED celebration is Rwanda.
This small country in the Great Lakes region of Africa is
rapidly earning a reputation as a green pioneer. Home to
52 threatened species, including the rare mountain gorilla,
Rwanda is showing how environmental sustainability can be
woven into the fabric of a country’s economic growth. Despite
its many challenges, including poverty and widespread land
degradation, the “land of a thousand hills” is working to
reforest, embrace renewable energies, pursue sustainable
agriculture and develop a green vision for the future.
This year, Kigali will be the heartbeat of a global, multicultural,
intergenerational celebration of our planet, its millions of
species and the countless ways in which life on Earth is
interconnected. On World Environment Day, I appeal to
everyone – from Kigali to Canberra, from Kuala Lumpur to
Quito – to help us sound the alarm. Get involved, speak out.
Learn and teach others. Show leadership and help clean
up. Reconnect with nature, our life force. Together, we can
develop a new vision for biodiversity: Many Species. One
Planet. One Future.
–United Nations Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon
Previous WED Host Countries and Themes
2009 Mexico: “Your Planet Needs You-UNite
to Combat Climate Change”
2008 New Zealand: “Kick the Habit! Towards
a Low Carbon Economy”
2007 Norway: “Melting Ice – A Hot Topic?”
2006 Algeria: “Don’t Desert Drylands!”
2005 USA: “Green Cities – Plan for the Planet!”
2004 Spain: “Wanted! Seas and Oceans – Dead or Alive?”
2003 Lebanon: “Water – Two Billion People are Dying for It!”
2002 People’s Republic of China: “Give Earth a Chance”
2001 Italy and Cuba: “Connect with the World Wide Web of Life”
2000 Australia: “The Environment Millennium – Time to Act”
Help Galvanize Political Action Towards environmental bar across the Continent and indeed the world Rwanda Named Global Host of WED 2010 Under the leadership of President Paul Kagame, who is one
a Green Economy by calling for a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy. of Africa’s strongest voices on environmental sustainability,
In doing so he articulated a new direction for action on poverty Rwanda has developed a visionary strategy for sustainable
The urgency to better manage alleviation by linking the future of Africa’s economy with development and environmental protection, with a spate of
the planet’s natural assets is a investing in environmental sustainability. new policies and laws for environmental management.
key theme of World Environment
Day 2010, coming as it does The public give politicians the license to operate. If the Green Rwanda’s green initiatives include:
half way through the UN’s Economy is to take root world-wide, the time has come • Environment organic law promulgation
International Year of Biodiversity. to galvanize governments in part by building community- • Establishment of Rwanda Environment Management
Every year, an estimated $2 to $ awareness and public action from the grass roots up. Authority
5 trillion is lost--almost without • Biodiversity and wildlife policies development
notice or comment-- from the WED 2010’s theme is Many Species; One Planet; One • Programmes aimed at halting the effects of climate
global economy as a result of Future—it is high time that the one species with the power to change, including preserving wetlands and forests as well
the degradation and destruction make positive change recognized these fundamental facts. as a countrywide tree-planting
of the planet’s nature-based • Protection of river banks and lake shores for biodiversity
resources. –UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, conservation
Achim Steiner • Tourism revenue sharing scheme for communities
The near invisibility in national accounts of biological diversity surrounding Protected Areas.
and of the economically-important services of ecosystems • A country-wide ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags
such as forests and freshwaters is short changing the planet • Nationwide community works known as Umuganda which
include activities like litter cleanups tree-planting and
and its people.
greening of cities.
2010 is a year in which this status quo needs to be firmly and • Trash collection in Kigali, with the litter recycled into
decisively challenged in order to halt the loss of species and cooking bricks as an alternative to firewood.
catalyse a far more intelligent management of the natural world. • Development of renewable energies (Biogas, solar,
Tell us how YOU will be hydropower) and Rainwater harvesting in schools,
This is a central thrust of the Green Economy, an initiative of households and in public and private institutions
UNEP and a response to the multiple challenges, but also celebrating World Environment Rwanda, known affectionately as the Land of a Thousand Hills,
multiple opportunities at hand. It is gaining resonance and is located in Central Africa. Environment is a very important Rwanda has a remarkable variety of ecosystems and of
traction across the globe among world leaders, businesses, Day! Register your activity and and sensitive factor in the socioeconomic, political and cultural flora and fauna. Its location at the heart of the Albertine Rift
citizens and the UN system. development of the country; Rwanda is naturally endowed with eco-region in the western arm of the Africa’s Rift Valley is
Rwanda, the main host for global WED celebrations in 2010,
read inspiring examples online at water, biodiversity and landscapes that have shaped people’s
livelihoods, and the economic and social structure of the
a contributory factor. This region is one of Africa’s most
biologically diverse regions. It is home to some 40 per cent
is a shining example of how transformational change can be country over centuries. These landscapes are, however, fragile of the continent’s mammal species (402 species), a huge
embraced-- not only in developed but also forward-looking
www.unep.org/WED and over the years, been severely degraded, thereby affecting diversity of birds (1,061 species), reptiles and amphibians
developing economies. President Kagame has raised the the quality of livelihoods and economy. (293 species), and higher plants (5,793 species).