- The World Environment Day is marked annually on June 5 with a different country hosting it each year.
- This year, the day was hosted by Sweden with “Only One Earth" as the campaign slogan, with the focus on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature”.
Image: Image: Gilbert Koech.
Kenya on Monday made a passionate appeal to the world to help find solutions to the three pressing challenges currently facing the planet.
The country made the appeal at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri county as she joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Environment Day.
The triple planetary crises the world is racing against time to address include pollution and waste, climate change and biodiversity loss.
"The theme for World Environment Day 'Only One Earth’ focuses on the need to live sustainably in harmony with nature, and the possibilities for shifting to a greener lifestyle through both policies and individual choices,” Environment CS Keriako Tobiko said in a speech read on his behalf by the Secretary Administration Joel Kitili.
Tobiko said Kenyans too have solutions to the problems.
The World Environment Day is marked annually on June 5, with a different country hosting it each year.
This year, the day was hosted by Sweden on June 5 with “Only One Earth" as the campaign slogan, with the focus on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature”.
Led by the United Nations Environment Programme and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach.
It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.
Tens of millions of people around the world joined global conversations on social media demanding urgent action to conserve and restore the environment.
Kenya however hosted the commemoration of the day on Monday as the day fell on a Sunday.
Tobiko heaped the blame on human activities for the mess.
He however said the same humans have the opportunity to redeem themselves.
Those present during the commemoration included Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Nyeri Catholic Archdiocese, Dedan Kimathi University Vice Chancellor Prof Ndirangu Kioni and Nyeri County CEC Environment and Climate Change Kinyua Wanjohi.
Others present were National Environment Management Authority Board chairperson Lul Abdiwahid, DG Mamo Mamo, Nyeri County Commissioner Mohammed Barre, 9GIZ Programme director Hanna Salian, NECC chairman and secretary Dr Lumumba Nyaberi and NECC secretary Dr John Chumo.
Kenya Forest Service Chief Conservator of Forests Julius Kamau was represented by Regional Forest Conservation Area Coordinator Dr Benjamin Kinyili.
During the event, KFS led in the planting of more than 2,000 trees at the institution.
A further 20,000 seedlings will be planted at the 850ha adopted by the university at Tanyai forest block in Muringato forest station.
Kinyili congratulated Nyeri county for maintaining the country's highest tree cover at 45 per cent and forest cover at 40 per cen as per the recently launched national forest resources assessment report.
Muheria said all religions recognise the bond between humanity and nature, adding that environment is the extension of God's presence through his creation.
He called for clear, definitive and consistent actions towards caring for mother earth, adding that through the Greening Kenya Initiative, the Catholic Church intends to grow 10 million trees in schools and across the country by 2030.
Muheria said the church is keen to change the mindset of the people not only to plant trees but to love nature as a commandment from God.
Mamo said nature was speaking to humanity very loudly through droughts, rising water levels, floods and receding glaciers.
“It was reported that 200 species of plants and animals are becoming extinct every single day. Seven million deaths globally every year are attributed to air pollution among others. What we are seeing is that nature is speaking and speaking very loudly and to paraphrase Professor Wangari Maathai (deceased), if you protect Mother Earth, she will indeed protect you. We are the problem,” Mamo said while calling for actions.
Mamo said action is more important than ever.
“We are running against the clock. The time is running out. The time for action is now we have depleted our natural resources due to unsustainable consumption because of our greed.”
Mamo said Nema has done a lot to reverse the trend.
He said the authority has robustly enforced various regulations to address pollution of water bodies, adding that they have undertaken thousands of inspections in all the counties.
Mamo revealed they last year undertook 3,206 inspections in the country, and as part of a wider plan to tackle pollution, he said, the authority implemented the ban on the single use plastic carrier bags since 2017.
The commemoration of the day took place even as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052.
The World Meteorological Organisation have brought this timeline even closer home, with new climate predictions that point to a 20 per cent likelihood that one of the next five years will be 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has sounded the alarm on the rapid decline of nature and what this means for Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem integrity will undermine efforts on 80 per cent of assessed sustainable development goals targets, making it even more difficult to report progress on poverty, hunger, health, water, cities and climate.
Experts have argued that acting on the triple crisis should form the core of UNEP’s strategy for the next five years. These three programmes in turn will be sharpened and informed by our commitment to science for policy; and law and institutions that strengthen environmental governance.