the nst
ION In 2010 Rwanda is the global host of WED.
WED aims to be the biggest worldwide day for positive environmental action, stimulating global awareness of the environment and encouraging political attention and action. Earlier this year, research from the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlighted ten species likely to be hardest hit by climate change. They include the Arctic fox, leatherback turtle, koala, bel- uga whale and the emperor penguin. “Ordinary people are not powerless to stop these tragic losses,” said Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). “They can cut down on their own CO2 emissions and voice their support for strong action by their govern- ments to change the dire climate prognosis we are currently facing.” As has been widely reported in the media, some of the hardest-hit species are polar, such as the ringed seal, being forced further north by the retreat- ing sea ice that it needs for rearing its pups.
Ice-breeding seal “If the extremes predicted for losses of sea ice do occur, it is difficult to
envisage how this ice-breeding seal will survive beyond the small refugia- areas where ice cover will remain, despite its currently broad range and high abundances,” said Kit Kovacs, chair of the IUCN SSC Pinniped Specialist Group and leader of the Norwegian Polar Institute’s Biodiversity Research Programme.
“Marked decreases in ringed seal abundance are likely to have cascading effects in Arctic food webs. They are the most important species in the diet of polar bears,” said Kovacs.
Similar problems are faced by the emperor penguin. With regional sea ice
declining, it’s getting harder to rear chicks. Food supplies are also less plen- tiful – less ice means less krill, for the emperor penguin and for many other Antarctic species.
“Emperor penguins are not only the largest penguins alive, they are also the oldest,” said Barbara Wienecke of the Australian Antarctic Division. “Having been successful on this planet for millions of years, emperor pen- guins now face the most serious challenge in their long history – in geolog-
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ical terms, a very rapid warming of their home. They stand to lose their breeding grounds on the fast ice and potentially their main prey species. Will they be able to adapt rapidly to a completely altered southern-ocean ecosys- tem? Their chances are slim.”
Those chances are given a shot in the arm each year by WED, which gives a human face to environmental issues, aiming to help people realise their responsibilities and the power they have to effect change and create sus- tainable development. The day is also one for advocating partnerships among all stakeholders or among all the planet’s species. UNEP is aiming to make WED 2010 the biggest ever, and there are plenty ways in which people can get involved that don’t have to be too dramatic. Simply organising a neighbourhood clean-up, vowing to stop using plastic bags, planting a tree or organising a collective tree-planting effort, or walk- ing to work can make a big difference if enough of us take action. The mes- sage from the UN is simple: through our individual and collective power, we can stem the tide of extinction. In 2010, the global host of WED will be Rwanda, the East African country
that is embracing a transition to a green economy. UNEP took up the coun- try’s hosting offer because of Rwanda’s environmental richness – it’s home to some economically-important species such as the mountain gorilla – and its pioneering green policies. Rwanda is developing renewable energies such as hydropower, solar power, biogas and methane gas. The African nation has also banned plastic bags and introduced a clean- up campaign to restore degraded natural rainforests as part of a chimpanzee conservation programme.
Environmental change Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General,
said: “WED has become a dynamic and global grass-roots expression of humanity’s desire to realise meaningful and positive environmental change. And Rwanda is an African nation that, despite big challenges, is seizing the multiple opportunities possible from green economic policies. “The pairing of Rwanda with WED in 2010 is thus a compelling and inspir- ing alliance – underlining that all economies, rich and poor and north and south, have real and tangible opportunities to shape a more sustainable development path: one that develops new business models based on intel- ligent management of the natural world and high-tech clean and renewable businesses,” he added. Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, will see a variety of activities over several days to inspire Rwandans, East Africans and people around the world to take action for the environment. It will certainly be a major achievement if UNEP can get more involvement than in 2009, when people in more than 80 coun- tries registered activities on the WED website, hundreds of people posted daily ‘Do Something Tips’ and more than 10,000 joined the ‘Twitter for trees’ campaign, among other achievements. Whatever you decide to do, the message from UNEP is that it’s not too late. Its conservation action has brought some species back from the brink, and has restored some vital natural habitats around the world. On 5th June, if we all get involved, we just might be able to turn the tide against extinction. To find out more about World Environment Day 2010 and to discover more about how you can get involved and even win a free trip to Rwanda, visit
www.unep.org
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