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June 5th of every year is observed as World Environment Day. Celebrating this day creates awareness about environmental protection and increases political attention. In 1972, on the first day of the Stockholm conference concerning human environment, the general assembly designated a World Environment Day.
The first environment day was celebrated in 1974 in Spokane, USA, and the theme was ‘Only One Earth’. World Environment Day has been celebrated every year since 1974 on a global scale. Different countries host World Environment Day every year centred around a different theme.
Quotes on Environment day
People also reinforce well-known quotes on the day to raise awareness, including:
We must nurture nature so that we can have a better future.
Earth is our mother. Despite our desire to harm our mother, she will always love us forever.
It is useless to waste time; it is best to clean the environment.
God can be found in nature, animals, birds, and the environment.
People also use slogans on World Environment Day:
We must Unite to Save the Environment!
Invest in plants and cheer our future generations.
On this world environment day, we must bring changes in ourselves before it’s too late.
Benefits of forests
Forests provide many essential materials such as timber, fuel, rubber, paper, and medicines. They also help in sustaining the quality and availability of fresh water supply. Some facts provided on the World Environment Day website include:
Forests provide more than three-quarters of freshwater that is accessible to the world. The water quality diminishes with the worsening conditions of forests and reduced forest cover. Natural calamities such as floods, landslides, and soil erosion are common in areas with less forest cover.
Forests are very crucial in the battle against climate change. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their biomass.
Forests are essential to every aspect of our life. They regulate water for numerous rivers across the world. Also, they help to secure the water quality.
They help minimise the effects of storms and floods and help in controlling soil erosion.
Forests are the most diverse biological ecosystem on land. More than half of the terrestrial species, including the great apes and even the smallest creatures, have made forests their habitat.
Forests occupy One-third of the earth, so they store the most biodiversity.
They deliver homes, security and livelihoods for around 60 million native people and 1.6 billion people worldwide.
Apart from providing shelter and resources, people are also connected spiritually and culturally. There are so many prayer mountains in south Nigeria where people go to pray in the forests.
Forests store a lot of information about biodiversity and education. They are crucial for the preparation of medicines.
Challenges faced by forest heritage
There is no adequate management and unsustainable use of natural resources, and it has a severe impact on the forests. Some critical issues that were observed are:
People who come and settle in nearby forest areas use these resources unsustainably. Illegal logging is also widespread, and people collect wood for fuel and forage purposes. This causes land degradation.
The population is increasing, and rapid urbanisation is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the remaining forest areas. Due to the high population, forests are destroyed at an unprecedented level.
Almost all the countries have failed to prevent the loss of forest cover. The total forest cover in Arab has dropped from 7.2% in 1990 to 6.4% in 2007.
Lebanon has been a chief source of timber in the region from olden times, and it has now only 13.3% of forest cover left. Most countries have their areas under forest cover decreasing rapidly.
Forests grazing by domesticated animals also puts pressure on forested areas.
Conclusion
The world observes World Environment Day on June 5th. This practice began in the general assembly of the United Nations to raise awareness in people about saving the environment. People often use quotes and slogans on World Environment Day to raise awareness. Forests are essential to us in many aspects, whether providing food, resources like timber and fuel, or medicines. They also help us fight global warming, which is a pressing concern for the world, and climate change. They also regulate rainfall and prevent soil erosion. Proper steps must be taken to save the remaining forest cover.
