World Environment Day to be celebrated in Tromsø

Written by Kristen Ulstein, Kommunikasjonsrådgiver

Published: 01.06.2007

WED-ing (Ingressbilde)

The main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2007 will be held in Tromsø, Norway, June 3rd-6th. World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

The World Environment Day slogan selected for 2007 is Melting Ice - a Hot Topic? In support of International Polar Year, the WED theme selected for 2007 focuses on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, and the ensuing consequences around the world.

The day's agenda is to give a human face to environmental issues; empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development; promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues; and advocate partnership, which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future. World Environment Day is a people's event with colourful activities such as street rallies, bicycle parades, green concerts, essays and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, as well as recycling and clean-up campaigns.

The Norwegian Government will observe the 20th anniversary of the report "Our Common Future" from the World Commission on Environment and Development, led by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, and has invited a number of distinguished participants to a round table discussion to mark the anniversary. The idea is to encourage a global outlook on a future-orientated agenda and create an arena for analysis and new visions. Dr Brundtland will provide the keynote address before the discussion. This event is the kick-off for two days with sustainable development and climate change on the agenda.

June 4th-5th, the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Ministry of the Environment will host a conference with the same topic as that of World Environment Day: decreasing ice and snow cover around the world. The Arctic mean temperature has risen at almost twice the rate as the rest of the world, diminishing sea ice and thawing permafrost. All areas covered by ice and snow, such as the Himalaya and Andes mountains, are influenced by climate change.

The conference is planned as a meeting between decision makers and scientists and will also address the media and the general public. The conference will give an overview of global, climate change, include a presentation by the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on new findings and recommendations focus on consequences for indigenous people, effects of climate changes in different geographic regions presented by scientific models and expected rise in sea level because of melting glaciers and look ahead at expected results and new knowledge from the International Polar Year projects, in which participants from nearly 70 countries are taking part.

A photo presentation on changes in the circum-polar Arctic over the last decade will also be shown. The Nordic Council of Ministers, which recently presented a climate strategy for the Arctic, has contributed financially to the conference, and there will be a special focus on Nordic issues during the last part of the conference.

Celebrations include a TV-transmitted culture event "Verdens miljøverndag 2007" at Tromsø Kulturhus, and an ecumenical church service in the Arctic Cathedral, Sunday 3 June.

Tromsø, which has been nicknamed the "Paris of the North" and "Gateway to the Arctic", is the main city of northern Norway. It was from here that explorers such as Roald Amundsen embarked upon their journeys into the High Arctic.

Read about World Environment day celebrations in Norway and worldwide (UNEP Homepage) 

Last updated: 24.04.2008

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Det norske IPY-sekretariatet, Norges forskningsråd, Postboks 2700 St.Hanshaugen, 0131 Oslo - Redaktør: Kristen Ulstein