World Environment Day 2020 theme: Biodiversity.

The theme for the United Nations World Environment Day, on 5 June 2020 is biodiversity - a call to action to combat the accelerating species loss and degradation of the natural world. One million plant and animal species risk extinction, largely due to human activities and it is now ‘Time for Nature’.

Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variability of living things that makes up life on earth. It encompasses the 8 million or so species on the planet, from plants and animals to fungi and bacteria, the ecosystems that house them such as oceans, forests, mountain environments and coral reefs - as well as the genetic diversity found among them.

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a collective plan for achieving peace and prosperity for everyone on the planet. It is built around 17 Sustainable Development Goals addressing global challenges relating to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. These goals are interconnected and interdependent: progress on one enhances progress toward the others; and biodiversity is critical to all of them.

You can read the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development document in full here: https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E

Biodiversity and its connection to humans

Biodiversity is the foundation that supports all life on land and below water. It affects every aspect of human health, providing clean air and water, nutritious foods, scientific understanding and medicine sources, natural disease resistance, and climate change mitigation. Changing, or removing one element of this web affects the entire life system and can produce negative consequences.

Human actions, including deforestation, encroachment on wildlife habitats, intensified agriculture, and acceleration of climate change, have pushed nature beyond its limit. It would take 1.6 Earths to meet the demands that humans make of nature each year. If we continue on this path, biodiversity loss will have severe implications for humanity, including the collapse of food and health systems.

More information, quizzes and activities can be found via this link: https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-day