Karachi, June 05: Each year, World Environment Day (WED) is commemorated by the United Nations to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and action. This year’s theme is Green Cities, and the WED slogan is Plan for the Planet! The main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2005 are scheduled to be held in San Francisco, California, and will span the first five days of June. Each day will be focused on a specific theme: Urban Power, Cities on the Move, Redesigning Metropolis, Pure Elements, and Flower Power. These themes will be celebrated through WED workshops, tours, the Green Cities Expo ands art events, films, lectures and presentations.

The World Environment Day which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972, is hosted each year by a different city. WED is a people's event, and will be celebrated as such in Pakistan as well.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and its various member and partner organizations in Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Chitral, Abottabad and D.I.Khan will be holding seminars, lectures, walks, speech and poster competitions, with civil society, the media, schools and higher education institutes to commemorate WED. Special supplements and posters to create awareness regarding the theme of “Green Cities” will also be displayed and distributed across the country. All these events are geared towards enhancing awareness regarding local environmental issues, associated global challenges and mobilizing people towards action.

In the context of Pakistan, this year’s WED theme of “Green Cities” rings particularly true. The urban environment has been centre stage for IUCN Pakistan, accentuated by its recent launch of a comprehensive publication, the Sindh State of Environment and Development (SoED). The Sindh SoED among other concerns, highlights issues of unplanned urbanization, especially the lack of environment friendly development, resulting in ineffective water and sanitation services, noise pollution, waste disposal problems, and air pollution.

Air pollution has been an important development objective of the Government of Pakistan, development agencies and international NGOs that provide assistance to the country. The growing active involvement of local governments in air quality management by development agencies calls for the establishment of a network on air quality management in Pakistan that brings together local governments, important national and multi national agencies, academia and the private sector.

The World Bank (WB), together with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and a number of bilateral development organizations has taken the initiative to establish a Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia). The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and CAI-Asia have entered into a partnership agreement to establish a local CAI-Asia network in Pakistan, and to jointly provide assistance for this initiative. The goal of this network is: “promote better air quality management in selected cities in Pakistan.”

For more information please contact Tehseena Rafi