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World Environment Day 2011 - Forests: Nature at Your Service - 5 June

06.06.2011

The World Environment Day (WED) has been launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 1972 and celebrated every year on 5 June. WED aims to stimulate public awareness on environmental issues and to urge politics to act in favour of these. This year’s theme is dedicated to: “Forests: Nature at Your Service”. Covering 31 percent of total land area (FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010) they play a key role in our battle against climate change by storing more carbon than the entire atmosphere (650 billion tonnes). Close to 1.6 billion people – more than 25% of the world’s population - depend on forests for their livelihoods. Thousands of activities were organized worldwide and in particular in India, global host of this year.