World Environment Day (WED) is one of the biggest and most widely celebrated global days for positive environmental action. This year, WED supports the UN’s International Year of Forests with the theme, “Forests: Nature at Your Service” which underscores the many essential life-sustaining values that forests provide and the intrinsic link between our quality of life and the health of forest ecosystems.
For the seven billion people living on earth, the present and future depend on conserving and restoring the world’s forests. Observances this year aim to encourage resolve to do much more to ensure that the important services forests provide be continued in this generation and the next.
WED was established by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the opening of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Celebrating WED is about the inspirational power of individual actions that collectively become an exponential force for positive change.
WED thematic celebrations have in the past included caring for the earth, water, the ozone layer, climate change, desertification and sustainable development, to mention a few.

WED is celebrated around the world in many ways, including street rallies, bicycle parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for coordinating environmental activities in Guyana.  A number of activities are being coordinated this year not only to celebrate our rich and diverse forests, but also to continue raising awareness of environmental issues. The annual Green Walk will be held on June 5. Ride for the Environment will be taken for the first time to Essequibo on June 19 and will be held for the second year running, in Linden on June 26. The Annual Environmental Camp targeting some seventy youths, will be held in July. In addition, a TV Panel Discussion and a WED Message will be broadcast.
You can celebrate WED by participating in the EPA organized activities. In addition you can organize your own neighbourhood clean-up, tree-planting, or recycling among other activities. By celebrating WED, we remind ourselves and others of the importance of caring for our environment. Remember that every action counts, so join us: every year, everywhere, everyone!