Getting Ready for World Environment Day
This World Environment Day and beyond, engage with the biodiversity all around us. We are proud to support the UN’s ‘World Environment Day’ initiative. This year’s theme is Biodiversity and we want everyone to play their part.
We’ve teamed up with the Society for the Environment to look for actions large and small – they all make a difference.
In the UK and beyond, the Society for the Environment champions World Environment Day – a UN initiative which takes place on 5 June each year. The initiative provides a platform for global education and inspiration; shining attention on a particularly pressing environmental theme.
This year, the global theme for World Environment Day is Biodiversity – a topic which Chartered Environmentalists agree is hugely important for the environment, both currently and looking to the future.
As part of this celebration of World Environment Day, the Society and key partners are spearheading an awareness campaign to help people engage with biodiversity. What better time to launch this campaign than now – on International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May)!
At the heart of the campaign is the knowledge that everyone can play a part in helping to protect and enhance the biodiversity that we all live amongst.
Working alongside partners including the Society for the Environment, Canary Wharf Group, IEMA, Siemens, Skanska, The Wildlife Trusts and Wilmott Dixon, we have put together the Biodiversity Campaign Hub – featuring tons of resources and inspirational ideas! There is something for everyone – whatever your age or profession.
Nigel Sagar CEnv, Senior Environmental Compliance Manager at Skanska, explains why this campaign is so important: “Within the construction industry it is encouraging to see a shift towards tackling the twin challenges of the climate emergency and declines in biodiversity head on, for example through the proposed mandatory biodiversity net gain requirement under the Environment Bill and with significant national infrastructure projects looking to achieve net gain. As we move forwards in a world altered as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, it is encouraging to see how many people have managed to connect with nature or are rediscovering their love of the natural world as a result of spending time in lockdown. The economic and health benefits from good biodiversity and access to nature are well known – we clearly observe this through speaking to our staff and their participation in volunteering days with a biodiversity theme – and I hope they will form a key part of our recovery plans as a nation and globally.”
Martin Gettings CEnv, Head of Sustainability at Canary Wharf Group, agrees: “The focus for World Environment Day 2020 is Biodiversity and now is a great time to highlight the ecology so close to all our doorsteps. Together we can find ways to inspire and activate urban populations, to be more aware and involved, to connect with the natural world closer to home and to enjoy the enhanced quality of life and wellbeing, connection with nature brings to all of us.”
To maximise our combined impact, we have also teamed up with the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild campaign, which encourages people to do one wild thing each day during the month of June.
Celebrating this collaboration and looking ahead to both World Environment Day and 30 Days Wild, Leanne Manchester, Digital and Content Manager at the Wildlife Trusts, said:
“World Environment Day provides a spotlight for issues that the natural world is facing and the importance of connecting with it in order to take action. In taking part in 30 Days Wild, and spending time immersing themselves in the wildlife on their doorsteps, we know that people feel better and more connected to nature. That’s why we’re encouraging everybody to take part in 30 Days Wild this year!”
To find out more about what you, your colleagues and families can do to enhance biodiversity, visit socenv.org.uk/Biodiversity2020 today!