Kigali/Nairobi/Worldwide,
26 May 2010 -From Hollywood stars to schoolchildren,
millions of people on every continent will
take action for the planet on 5 June
for World Environment Day.
Under the theme 'Many
Species. One Planet. One Future', this year's
event will celebrate the incredible diversity
of life on Earth as part of the 2010 International
Year of Biodiversity.
This year's global host,
Rwanda - a country of exceptional biodiversity
that has made huge strides on environmental
protection - will lead the celebrations
with three days of keynote events.
Thousands of activities
will also be organized worldwide from Hong
Kong to Abidjan, with beach clean-ups, concerts,
exhibits, film festivals, community events
and much more.
Global Celebrations
in Rwanda
The 2010 global celebrations
in Rwanda will involve three days of events
on 3-5 June, culminating in the epic Kwita
Izina gorilla-naming ceremony in the world
famous Volcanoes National Park on 5 June.
This year's ceremony
will be attended by 30,000 people and will
involve Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Oscar-nominated
actor Don Cheadle and UNEP Executive Director
Achim Steiner, among other high-profile
figures who will have the honour of naming
the baby gorillas.
2-5 June: UNEP-Bayer
youth conference: 'African Youth Standing
up for Biodiversity' with youth from across
Africa.
3 June:
Launch of UNEP report:
'Dead Planet, Living Planet - Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Restoration for Sustainable
Development'.
Conference on International
Biodiversity & Conservation with Achim
Steiner, Ahmed Djoghlaf, the Executive Secretary
of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
and Environment Ministers from around Africa.
4 June: Launch of the
updated UNEP report and documentary on 'The
Last Stand of the Gorilla'
5 June - World Environment
Day:
Kwita Izina gorilla-naming
ceremony in the Volcanoes National Park.
Launch of the WED Legacy
Project: for every activity registered on
the WED website, UNEP will donate US$10
towards gorilla conservation in Rwanda.
Energy company Philips will also participate
in the project by donating solar home systems
that will light 300 houses in Rwanda.
Designation of Oscar-nominated
actor Don Cheadle as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador.
WED events around the
world
The celebrations in
Rwanda are among the thousands of events
that will take place around the globe on
5 June, from Qatar to Korea and from Serbia
to Chile, to celebrate WED.
Here are a few WED highlights
from every continent:
10:10, a global campaign
to reduce carbon emissions by 10 per cent
in a year, will be launched publicly on
WED, with events planned in Nigeria, Germany,
Portugal, France and in cities across the
United States.
CinemAmbiente: Italy's
top environmental film festival, in Turin,
will feature more than 30 documentaries
and short films on the environment.
UNEP Goodwill Ambassador
Gisele Bündchen will promote WED in
her native Brazil in June. She also appears
in a Public Service Announcement calling
people for action on 5 June.
National Geographic
and GlobeScan will release the Greendex
2010 survey on 3 June - a unique survey
ranking average consumers in 17 countries
according to their environmental impact
and green behaviour.
The keynote event for
the Latin America and Caribbean region will
be the WED celebrations in Haiti, with the
launch of the Haiti Global Environment Outlook
report.
Pittsburgh is the host
of this year's North American celebrations,
with more than 130 events and activities
including a national conference on water,
an Arts and Environment Festival, and the
Water Savers Competition whose goal is to
see which neighborhoods can save the most
water and energy from April to June.
Celebrations in Europe
will include major public events in Geneva
(Switzerland), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Genoa
(Italy), alongside a multitude of events
across the continent - among them a circus
and poetry slam in Eskilstuna (Sweden) and
the screening of a series of environmental
films entitled 'Télégrammes
Visuels' in Paris (France).
Events will take place
across Africa, from Cameroon to Mozambique,
with a series of tree plantings, beach clean-ups
and poetry contests organized around the
continent.
West Asian celebrations:
In Bahrain, prominent poets and singers
will gather to sing and talk about the environment
and biodiversity.
A wide variety of events
will be organized in the Asia-Pacific region,
from a mangrove clean-up in Jakarta (Indonesia)
to the Bangladesh Ocean Festival and No
Vehicle Time in Malé (Maldives).
Participate!
World Environment Day
is the people's day for environmental action:
everyone can take part. The WED 2010 website
is more interactive than ever, with daily
tips, information and statistics on biodiversity,
and a platform where people around the world
can register their activities. This year,
the public have had a chance to vote for
their favourite gorilla name - which will
be announced by Don Cheadle on 5 June -
and the winner of the WED Blogging Competition
will travel to Rwanda to cover the epicentre
of the WED celebrations.
Notes to Editors:
WED, organized by the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) every year
since 1972, is the UN's biggest global celebration
for positive environmental action. The 2010
theme focuses on the central importance
to humanity of the globe's wealth of species
and ecosystems, in support of the 2010 UN
International Year of Biodiversity.
This year's host country,
Rwanda, was chosen for its combination of
environmental richness, including rare species
such as the mountain gorilla, allied to
pioneering green policies.
Websites for more information:
WED website: http://www.unep.org/wed/2010/english/
Our world map of WED activities: http://www.unep.org/wed/2010/english/activitymap/
The gorilla-naming competition: http://www.unep.org/wed/2010/english/GorillaNaming/
The official website of the gorilla-naming
ceremony: http://www.kwitizina.org/
The Pittsburgh celebrations: www.unep.org/rona
or www.pittsburghwed.com
CinemAmbiente: http://www.cinemambiente.it/
10:10 campaign: www.1010global.org
For more information please contact:
Anne-France White, UNEP Information Officer
