Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

World Environment Day 2003

Jun 2 2003 (IPS) - World Environment Day 2003 is dedicated to a crucial element for the survival of civilization and nature alike: water. The message for this awareness-raising event is that we must do everything possible to conserve this natural resource and to improve its distribution among the world's people.

Celebration of World Environment Day every June 5 are taking place in cities and other locations around the world with events and activities that share the aim of urging people to get involved in protecting nature and work towards sustainable development.

Each year, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) chooses a country to serve as the global host of the event. This year, the honor goes to Beirut, Lebanon — the first time in an Arab country.

UNEP's main web-page on World Environment Day 2003, dedicated to water, states that the objective is for all of us to contribute to conserving this most valuable source of life on our planet. Two billion people around the world lack regular access to safe drinking water, says the website.

The choice of this theme for World Environment Day coincides with the UN's designation of 2003 as International Year of Freshwater. The call to action for sustainable use of this resource states that this is “a year of opportunity.”

World Environment Day began with a United Nations decision in 1972, the same year that Sweden hosted the UN Conference on the Human Environment, the first global meeting dedicated exclusively to the degradation of Earth's natural resources and habitats.

Among the many governments taking special action for this year's event is Argentina, whose Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development issued a communiqué: “We must look at the state of our environment. We must carefully consider the actions that each one of us must take in directing our shared duty of preserving life on Earth with resolution and confidence.”

Environmental organizations, like the World Conservation Union (IUCN), are also taking advantage of World Environment Day to call citizens to action, particularly to protect water resources, which are key to ensuring a sustainable future.

UNEP: World Environment Day UNEP: Arab country hosts World Environment Day UNEP: WED program of events UN: International Year of Freshwater Official website for Year of Freshwater UN.org – Special Days Tierramérica: Water IUCN: commemoration of World Environment Day Report on UN Conference on the Human Environment (1972)

U.S. Environmental Policy

The environmental policy of the United States is relevant to the entire world, both because of the ecological impact of that country's huge economy and high level of consumption, and its role as the world superpower.

But what is the U.S. environmental position? And what is unique to the George W. Bush administration? What kind of legislation is in place or will prevail in that country? A good place to begin to answer these questions is the Internet.

The Bush government has already been at the forefront of several environmental controversies. Perhaps the most contentious was Bush's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that establishes actions and goals for reducing the global process of climate change.

Bush argues that “our air is cleaner, our water purer and our lands and natural resources better protected” than 30 years ago, according to the presidential commentary posted on the U.S. government's website for Earth Day, celebrated Apr. 22.

The principal U.S. body for this sector is the Environmental Protection Agency, which has some 18,000 employees to carry out its mission: “to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment — air, water, and land — upon which life depends.”

Details on the Bush administration's environmental policy can be found on the official White House Internet site, with a special section dedicated to the president's view on the environment, as well as related decisions, speeches and other materials.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality is active in defining strategies and policies in that area.

On the legislative side, in the U.S. Congress, there is plenty of specialized information provided by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Senate's Committees on Environment and Public Works and Energy and Natural Resources. It is here that lawmakers study and debate draft legislation.

And if even more information is sought, there are Internet links on environmental policies, as well as news sources like the Environmental News Service (ENS), and basic documents like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

EPA – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency White House – President's Commitment to the Environment U.S. Government on Earth Day White House Council on Environmental Quality National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Internet links on U.S. environmental policies IPS on Environment