Today June 5, 2017 we celebrate World Environment Day. A day in which all the people of the world are remembered, all companies, organizations, politicians, etc. The importance of conserving and protecting our environment for the future. A future full of sustainability, opportunities for all, a future in which our generations can enjoy natural resources just as we do, where biodiversity can grow in its natural spaces, where energy does not become pollution and where we can all live in harmony.
This idea of conservation and future is somewhat utopian if we take a look at reality. World Environment Day should be an incentive that helps us and strengthens us morally in the face of the difficult circumstances in which we find ourselves due to environmental problems, like climate change, globally. However, this World Environment Day has been clouded and overshadowed by the United States' exit from the Paris Agreement.
Since when is World Environment Day celebrated?
The United Nations (UN) after the 1972 summit, it celebrates World Environment Day every June 5. This day summarizes the importance of the conservation and protection of natural and urban environments. It means a lot that governments, companies and organizations around the world collaborate and put their efforts in the protection and conservation of the environment, since their activities are those that put the good condition of natural spaces at risk.
This year it is Canada that hosts this World Day under the slogan “Connect people with nature”. However, the news of the United States' exit from the Paris Agreement has affected the entire world.
The United States abandons the Paris Agreement
We are talking about nothing more and nothing less than one of the great powers that is responsible for almost half of the greenhouse gases emitted worldwide. Despite this great responsibility and this great impact on the environment, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has decided to leave the Paris Agreement that regulates global emissions.
On the one hand, the United Nations has considered that this decision of the president should not stop the worldwide celebration of World Environment Day and much less lower spirits or motivation to defend our environment, but quite the opposite, it has encouraged citizens to carry out global activities to promote man's connection with nature.
In Spain, Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Environment (Mapama) has joined the commemoration with the motto “Take care of it, respect it, love it. With this motto we want to convey the importance of caring for the environment for everyone and that it is our task to conserve and protect it. We are not only referring to ordinary citizens, but to large companies and multinationals that exploit natural resources and that destroy all the biodiversity present in ecosystems.
Before this World Environment Day, the political parties have joined like the PP and the PSOE. The Popular Party has indicated that "Taking care of our planet is everyone's job", while the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) has demanded "Cleaner technologies, waste management and a more rational use of natural resources." Personally, it seems to me a total irony that the Popular Party carries out pro-environmental messages when it is always against all actions that help to improve the conservation of the environment, such as the Sun Tax.
Environmental impact in Spain
Given the global environmental situation, some of the most important threats facing Spain have been highlighted, such as, for example, climate change (since Spain is very vulnerable), the situation of highly threatened ecosystems such as Doñana and the Mar Menor, the critical situation suffered by birds and reptiles, etc.
To highlight the importance of protecting the environment, environmental organizations such as Greenpeace have reminded the Government that one of the greatest challenges is climate change and has urged it to "Lead the renewable revolution and stand alongside world leaders to meet the Paris goals."