SÜT-D Calls for Action on World Environment Day

SÜT-D Calls for Action on World Environment Day The Association for Sustainable Production and Consumption announced that 5 June World Environment Day is especially significant this year, calling for an end to the trajectory of climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies and for reconciliation with nature. This year's World Environment Day theme on 5 June is "Only One Earth". There are billions of galaxies in the universe. There are billions of planets in our galaxy. But "There is Only One Earth", according to Istanbul Technical University Faculty Member and President of the Association for Sustainable Production and Consumption (SÜT-D) Prof. Dr. Filiz Karaosmanoğlu, who stated that we can together repair and protect our world. She emphasized that all of us have duties and responsibilities for sustainable development.

The year 2022 is a milestone for our planet

Prof. Dr. Filiz Karaosmanoğlu: "In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly committed to ending extreme poverty; combating inequality and injustice; and tackling climate change, launching the Agenda 2030: UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve 17 goals and 169 targets by 2030. The year 2022 became a milestone on this path. The Fifth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) held on 28 February-2 March 2022 was conducted under the theme 'Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the SDGs', emphasizing the important role of nature in our lives, social, economic and environmental sustainable development. Subsequently, a special session organized on 3-4 March 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of the restructuring of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), founded in 1972, had the theme 'Strengthening UNEP for the Implementation of the Environmental Dimension of the 2030 SDG Agenda'. The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Human Environment, announced on 16 June 1972 following the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, Switzerland and recognized as the first international meeting on the environment. The Stockholm Conference had triggered the establishment of environmental ministries and agencies worldwide, a series of global agreements, and most importantly, clarified the connection between poverty reduction and environmental protection objectives, paving the way for the UN SDGs. The idea of World Environment Day gained official status at the conference, and the theme chosen for the first celebration in 1974 was "Only One Earth". The high-level Stockholm+50 International Environmental Meeting was held on 2-3 June 2022 with Kenya's support and Sweden as host, recalling the 1972 Stockholm Conference and highlighting the importance of multilateralism for our world's triple crisis of climate-nature-pollution, the need to accelerate implementation of the UN Ecosystem Restoration Decade for the SDGs, work on the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and the important role of green recovery plans after Covid-19, placing the call to action and urgent action on the agenda. Stockholm+50 calls to us: 'A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity of All: Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity'," she said.

There is Only One Earth

Prof. Karaosmanoğlu, noting that the theme of World Environment Day on 5 June 2022, being the first celebration within the UN Ecosystem Restoration Decade which started in 2021, was chosen as "Only One Earth" with reference to the past and present, strengthened by a global call for collective action to restore and protect our planet, stated: "Because there is only one Earth. We can protect our world together. Let us remember: There are billions of galaxies in the universe. There are billions of planets in our galaxy. But there is Only One Earth. As stated in the UNEP Report titled 'Making Peace with Nature: A Scientific Plan for Tackling Climate, Biodiversity and Pollution Emergencies', announced in February 2021, it informed us of what we need to do under three urgent headings. In the UNEP Climate Status: Climate Action Note dated 9 November 2021, a climate emergency is presented with a code red definition for humanity. We are in a situation we cannot ignore, where the word concern is inadequate, where we must be afraid. To secure our future, to prevent new pandemics, we must find political, economic and technical solutions to our problems of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, reconcile with nature by adopting more sustainable production and consumption, and make daily and industrial life sustainable, saying 'There is Only One Earth'," she emphasized.

We all have duties and responsibilities for sustainable development

Prof. Karaosmanoğlu said: "With the best waste-energy-water management, resource-efficient, sustainable production using the latest available technologies in industry, sustainable consumption at home, school, work, on the road, in forests and fields, we can reduce both monetary costs and the costs of the three urgent headings for our beautiful planet Earth. We must all take action together and strengthen our ideas with solutions. Because on the path of sustainable development, to revitalize and accelerate global partnership, each of us and our countries have duties and responsibilities. We must not lose hope and must work hard. Both we and the Earth must be happy." With these words, she celebrated World Environment Day.