World Environment Day 2024

World Environment Day has been celebrated globally with this year’s theme focused on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

A volunteer plants mangrove seeds to mark World Environment day. Photo: Chaideer Mahyddin/AFP

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted World Environment Day this year, with a focus on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

This year’s campaign featured the slogan: “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.”

The global event held annually on June 5th was established in 1972 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Over the past five decades, World Environment Day has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach. Tens of millions of people each year participate in activities and events held in over 150 countries. 

Map detailing the number of WED events held globally. Source: United Nations website

According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population. 

The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 per cent since 2000 – without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world's population by 2050.

Environmental activists and dancers perform in Seoul. Photo: Jung Yeon-je/AFP

Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.