World Environment Day

By: Dalia Reyes Perera

On 5 June, humanity will celebrate World Environment Day as a hymn to life and hope.

Established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1975, it has been a permanent call to action for environmental causes, encouraging us to safeguard our common home, protect species and natural resources, and ensure the survival of human beings. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro on 12 June 1992, Fidel warned: "An important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive liquidation of its natural conditions of life: man."

This year's theme, 'End Plastic Pollution', is a call to curb pollution and preserve ecosystems for the sustainability of the planet and its inhabitants.

According to international statistics, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced worldwide each year, and it is believed that half of this material is designed for single use. However, less than 10% is recycled.

This is an issue for both the present and the future.

The serious consequences of climate change and global warming are concrete impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels.

We need to reforest and restore degraded areas. We must use the circular economy responsibly to make efficient use of each resource and avoid spilling waste from production. We must create projects in which all economic actors, governments, political and administrative decision-makers, neighbourhoods and citizens participate. , take on this commitment as something that runs through their veins. This will be key to continuing to dream of a future that we and our children, grandchildren and descendants deserve. After millennia, they will be grateful for every action we took to save what nature has placed in our hands, even when we are not physically present.

This is a labour of love and hope that requires unity, understanding, education and awareness, and each one of us must contribute our grain of sand to the well-being of the people who populate this blue planet, which is already wounded by wars and the damage we cause it every day.