World Environment Day on 5 June 2010, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

According to Sharad Agarwal, Founder of Go-Green.ae, “World Environment Day 2010 is aimed to be the biggest, most widely celebrated, global day for positive, environmental action. On our part we are spreading the awareness and call for action to ‘Go Green’ in order to save the planet. It is about time we took notice and did something to make a difference. I encourage members of our local communities to join thousands of people from countries all over the world in celebrating WED this year. There are literally hundreds of ways to do something positive for the environment. One could organize a neighborhood clean-up, stop using plastic bags and get the captive community to do the same, plant a tree or better yet organize a collective tree planting effort, walk to work, take the metro, start a recycling drive – the possibilities are endless.”

The agenda of World Environment Day 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.

WED is also a day for advocating partnerships among all stakeholders or perhaps, even more correctly, among all species living on this one planet and sharing a common future, in line with the theme of MANY SPECIES – ONE PLANET – ONE FUTURE.

There are an estimated 5 million to 100 million species on the planet! Scientist have only managed to identify about 2 million species so far. That means there is a huge amount we still don’t know about our planet or whom we share it with. What we do know though is that humans are among only a handful of species whose population is growing, while most animals and plants are becoming rarer and fewer.

A total of 17,291 species are known to be threatened with extinction – from little-known plants and insects to charismatic birds and mammals. This is just the tip of the iceberg; many species disappear before they are even discovered.

The reason? Human activities. Mankind has caused the clearing of much of the original forest, drained half of the world’s wetlands, depleted three quarters of all fish stocks, and emitted enough heat-trapping gases to keep our planet warming for centuries to come. We have put our foot on the accelerator, making species extinctions occur at up to 1000 times the natural rate. Let us consider carefully the actions each of us must take, and then address ourselves to our common task of preserving all life on Earth.