#WorldEnvironmentDay is the UN's most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Since it began in 1974, the Day has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.
Each World Environment Day is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The theme for 2018 is “Beating Plastic Pollution” and the host country is India.
UN Environment’s Europe Office joined the celebrations by organizing different events across the region. In Switzerland, in collaboration with the Net’Léman initiative, a massive clean-up took place in Lake Léman and a symbolic Race Against #Plastic sent a message on the effects of plastic pollution from the Olympic city of Lausanne to the world. Volunteers from the UN Environment Europe Office participated in this unconventional competition and in the first Geneva Ecotrail, an environmentally-friendly race. A #Tesla exhibition at the International Environmental House in Geneva showcased the advantages of electric mobility. Thirty Tesla cars drove through Switzerland bearing the World Environment Day logo, raising awareness on plastic pollution.
The celebrations culminated with a special event on 5 June at the Palais des Nations, the UN Office in Geneva, where practical innovations to beat plastic pollution were presented.
