World Environment Day 2020: History, significance & this year's theme

Every year on June 5th, World Environment Day is celebrated to encourage worldwide awareness and action to protect the environment.

Since 1974, World Environment Day has been celebrated every year on 5 June; engaging governments, businesses, celebrities, and citizens to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue.

World Environment Day 2020 History

World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 on the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, resulting from discussions on the integration of human interactions and the environment. 

In 1974 the first World Environment Day was held with the theme "Only One Earth". Even though the World Environment Day celebration has been held annually since 1974, in 1987 the idea for rotating the center of these activities through selecting different host countries began.

World Environment Day 2020 theme

The theme for World Environment Day 2020 is biodiversity – a concern that is both urgent and existential as per the United Nations official website. Recent events, from bushfires in Brazil, the United States, and Australia to locust infestations across East Africa – and now, a global disease pandemic – demonstrate the interdependence of humans and the webs of life, in which they exist.

The theme focuses on 'time for nature' and providing the essential infrastructure that supports life on Earth and human development. 

Host of World Environment Day 2020 

Every World Environment Day is hosted by a different country, in which official celebrations take place. This year's host is Colombia in partnership with Germany. This year, millions of people will be celebrating digitally due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.