Each year, June 5 is World Environment Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly; the date was chosen to commemorate the first Conference on the Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972, when the Stockholm Declaration was adopted, which defined the 26 principles on human rights and responsibilities in relation to the Environment.
Over the years, the aim of the Day has been to emphasize the importance of protecting and preserving the Environment and the impact it has on both people’s well-being and economic development. The aim is thus to put a human face on environmental issues, making people become active factors in equitable and sustainable development so that they understand how important and fundamental the change in attitude regarding environmental issues is.
The 2024 day, hosted by Saudi Arabia, focuses on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience with the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration ” aimed especially at the younger generation, which has raised a lot of attention. Each year, a theme is adopted, and this year, the Day aims to direct reflection in particular toward soil regeneration to counter extreme degradation phenomena such as desertification and drought. Soil sustains life on Earth in all its forms, both in agricultural land and in uncultivated natural areas scattered across the Planet, and over all these years human civilization has largely exploited it to feed its population. This degradation is not inevitable, and Man possesses the necessary knowledge to slow down environmental degeneration. Action must be taken quickly, however.
Some of the concrete initiatives that communities and individuals can put in place to help improve and counteract ongoing degradation can be:
- agriculture and food production through the practice of organic farming, which preserves soil health, retains water and minimizes erosion or, on an individual level, through the use of food waste as compost;
- freshwater ecosystems through rainwater harvesting to quench the soil in times of emergency and raise awareness against environmental damage related to soil and consequently groundwater pollution;
- urban areas that can reduce their environmental footprint by hosting green oases to make cities more livable and urban gardens to produce food sustainably;
- Take actions such as initiating or supporting a restoration project in the field, such as cleaning up a lake, beach, park or any natural area;
- Reduce the increasing use of plastics;
- Make smart choices such as buying only sustainable products and changing the diet, basing it on seasonal, sustainable and plant-based products;
- Raise your voice in support ofecosystem conservation and restoration.
Bringing degraded ecosystems back to life (e.g., by planting trees, cleaning riverbanks, or simply giving nature space to take back what used to belong to her) increases the benefits to society and biodiversity. Time cannot be turned back, but we can still revive forests, revive water sources, restore fertility to exploited soils, and try to stabilize the climate.
