World Environment Day is the most renowned day for environmental action. Since 1974, it has been celebrated every year on June 5, engaging governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue.
Since its beginning in 1974, World Environment Day has developed into a global platform for raising awareness and taking action on urgent issues from marine pollution and global warming to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. 
Millions of people have taken part over the years, helping drive change in our consumption habits as well as in national and international environmental policy. Below are some of the landmarks of World Environment Day through the years.

The theme
This year, the theme is biodiversity – a concern that is both urgent and existential. Recent events, from bushfires in Brazil, the United States and Australia to locust infestations across East Africa, and now, the global disease pandemic, demonstrate the interdependence of humans and the webs of life in which they exist. Nature is sending us a message.  

The community
Above all, World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive change. It recognises that global change requires a global community.  It pushes for individuals to think about the way they consume; for businesses to develop greener models; for farmers and manufacturers to produce more sustainably; for governments to safeguard wild spaces; for educators to inspire students to live in harmony with the Earth; and for youth to become fierce gatekeepers of a green future.  It requires all of us.

The host
Every World Environment Day is hosted by a different country, in which official celebrations take place. This year’s host is Colombia in partnership with Germany.

Stay connected
This year, millions of people will be celebrating digitally, worldwide. Sign up at www.worldenvironmentday.global/get-involved/subscribe-updates to stay informed and unite for nature. 
Biodiversity
The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature. Yet, these are exceptional times in which nature is sending us a message. Nature is showing that we are on the verge of a breakdown. It’s time to wake up. To take notice. To reimagine our relationship with nature.
It’s time to raise our voices to tell the world that we need action now. This World Environment Day, it’s Time for Nature.
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variability of living things that makes up life on Earth. It encompasses the eight million or so species on the planet, from plants and animals to fungi and bacteria; the ecosystems that house them, such as oceans, forests, mountain environments and coral reefs, as well as the genetic diversity found among them.
Healthy ecosystems, rich with biodiversity, are fundamental to human existence.
Ecosystems sustain human life in a myriad of ways, cleaning our air, purifying our water, ensuring the availability of nutritious foods, nature-based medicines and raw materials, and reducing the occurrence of disasters.
But we have not taken care of nature. We are witnessing unparalleled bushfires in Brazil, United States and Australia, locust invasions in the Horn of Africa, and the death of coral reefs. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic – the latest in a string of zoonotic disease outbreaks – shows that the planet’s health is linked to our health.

What can individuals do?
Organisers of World Environmental Day believe that each one of us has a role to play in ending biodiversity loss and preserving nature for human wellbeing. As individuals we must rethink what we buy and use and become conscious consumers. If we are to change our current course of destruction to one of custodianship of nature, we must first
LEARN about what we can do; 
SHARE that knowledge with our family and friends on World Environment Day and beyond; and 
ACT on the things we need to change.
The good news is that we can reverse the trends of biodiversity loss by reimagining our relationship with nature and acting now to increase ambition and accountability for its protection. We must conserve and restore wildlife and wild spaces, change the way we produce and consume food, promote environmentally friendly infrastructure and transform economies to become custodians of nature. 
The world’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has shown early action and solidarity to tackle pressing issues that threaten our societies. 
As countries start to plan ways to build back better, getting nature at the heart of all decision making for people and the planet must be our top priority. One million plant and animal species are facing extinction – some within decades – according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Every species plays an important role in keeping an ecosystem balanced and healthy. Losses in biodiversity and habitat can increase the spread of infectious diseases and viruses. 
The global economy is intricately tied to biodiversity.
Services provided by biodiversity are worth an estimated US$ 125-140 trillion per year, more than one and a half times the size of global GDP. 
The food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink come from nature. 
As we head towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we must embrace the opportunities and value of the natural environment and not work against it. 

Biodiversity – the essential variety of life forms on Earth – continues to decline in every region of the world, significantly reducing nature’s capacity to contribute to people’s well-being. This alarming trend endangers economies, livelihoods, food security and the quality of life of people everywhere, according to four landmark science reports written by more than 550 leading experts from over 100 countries. 
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and EcosystemServices (2019)