Established by the UN General Assembly, World Environment Day (WED) 2012 will commemorate its 40th anniversary of creating awareness for environmental and social issues to mark the 1972 opening of the (United Nations) Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. This year’s event places Brazil into the limelight on Wednesday, June 5 when Rio de Janeiro hosts the World Environment Day for the second time.

Thousands of WED activities are organized throughout the world, but each year beginning in 1973, the worldwide event travels to another country with a new theme in efforts to stimulate environmental awareness and action in different areas of the world. Past country hosts (in no particular order) have included Mexico, Sweden, India, China, Belgium, Thailand, Spain and Australia. In addition to WED, the city also hosts a simultaneous week-long international exposition.

Similar to Earth Day, World Environment Day impacts nations worldwide by uniting them to a cause the same day each year. The worldwide, UN-sanctioned  event is anticipated to draw record crowds when major political figures and local communities united with pledges and commitments to care for Mother Earth.

The United Nations uses the day’s events to draw political attention and action to current environmental issues.  This year’s theme, “Green Economy: Does it include you?” hits close to home as Brazil has one of the world’s fastest growing global economies.

Thousands of activities occur across the globe, including street rallies, green concerts, environmental contests in schools, tree planting, recycling and clean-up campaigns, concerts, exhibits, film festivals and community events.

What: World Environment Day
When: June 5, 2012
URL: http://www.unep.org/wed/hostcountry/

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