World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The day’s agenda is to:

Give a human face to environmental issues;

Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;

Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;

Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

We all know that it is the last chance to do something before it is too late. So unlike our other choices, we should stop seeing it as such; and without wasting any more time should start contributing in any and every way possible to do so.