World Environment Day was first launched in 1972. Since that time the human population doubled and reached in June 2020 a number of 7,8 billion people. In the same time forests disappeared, mangroves vanished, species became extinct, climate change became obvious, coral reefs have been bleached. The pole-ice is melting at an alarming rate. Temperatures are climbing. The sea-level is rising. Air pollution prevails in cities. Plastic pollution reached every corner in the world. None of these crises could be fixed to date. More action is needed urgently, supported by robust concerted actions.

One of UNESCO events in 2020 in support of World Environment Day, is the is the celebration of a new strong partnership consisting of UNESCO, UN ESCAP, UN Habitat, SEAMEO, the Asian Institute of Technology AIT, as well the Thai National Science Museum NSM. The event is further supported by UNEP’s participation. UNESCO has developed a few platforms to turn to action. One of these platforms is the Plastic Initiative. This celebration is the beginning of a number of events, actions, activities, and projects aiming to clean up our cities and ecosystems, and keeping them clean.

This will be the first meeting among the involved actors to kick off the Plastic Initiative Partnership. After this event, the partners of this concerted action will get together and find out how to strengthen each other’s individual activities, as well as developing joint activities, and step-by-step improving plastic-waste-management in many places, involving additional partners, including Governments, UN agencies, the private sector, school students, teachers, and communities.

All details about the event: https://theplasticinitiative.org/envday2020/

Responsible author: Dr. Benno Böer, Chief, Natural Sciences Section, UNESCO Bangkok Office; Email: b.boer@unesco.org / Image credits: Henning Schwarze