The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, says a healthy planet is essential for a prosperous and peaceful future.
In a video message to mark this year’s World Environment Day, he called on companies and civil society groups to take a concrete action to beat plastic pollution.
His words: “This World Environment Day, UN Environment is asking you, companies and civil society groups, to take concrete action to beat plastic pollution. Let’s all help to clean up our environment.
“We all have a role to play in protecting our only home. But it can be difficult to know what to do or where to start. That’s why on this World Environment Day, the message is simple: Beat Plastic Pollution.”
World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year on June 5.
It is a day set aside by the United Nations to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
It was first marked in 1974, and has since remained a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution, human overpopulation, and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Beat Plastic Pollution.”
According to a research by Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit organisation, about 1.8 trillion bits of plastic waste have accumulated along a single stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California.
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The research revealed that, “plastic debris typically collects in one of five “patches” around the world.
The largest such repository, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has amassed so much plastic pollution that if it was heaped together it would amount to twice the size of Texas.”
Recently, the AFP, reported that a pilot whale died in southern Thailand after eating more than 80 plastic bags and other debris.
The distressed whale was said to have been found in a canal in southern Thailand near the border with Malaysia by a veterinary team which attempted to “stabilize its illness.”
However, the Whale died after vomiting five plastic bags. An autopsy was said to have exhumed 8 kg (more than 17 lb) of additional plastic rubbish from the Whale’s stomach.
In a statement marking this year’s WED, the Head of UN Environment, Erik Solheim, said, “World Environment Day is not just a celebration of the wonder of the natural world, it is an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with that world and mobilise global action for causes that unite us.
“The world is waking up to the fact that plastic pollution is one of the most urgent environmental issues of our time, but that it’s also something that we can solve. This year’s World Environment Day is therefore a call to action for all of us.”
