World Environment Day 2024

Embrace #GenerationRestoration!

This 5th June, 2024, marks the 51st annual World Environment Day, a celebration that couldn't be more relevant in our current era.

With the theme of "Our Land. Our Future. We are #GenerationRestoration," this year's event shines a spotlight on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience. 

Hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it provides a pivotal platform for world leaders and climate scientists to unite in their mission to conserve, preserve, and protect our rapidly deteriorating environment.

The Significance of World Environment Day 2024

World Environment Day is orchestrated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is described as "the largest global platform for environmental outreach."

It’s an event marked by millions worldwide, revolving around a theme that addresses critical environmental issues. For 2024, the theme encapsulates the essence of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), focusing on reversing land degradation and mitigating drought effects. This global call to action aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, emphasising the protection and revival of ecosystems.

Why is This Day Important?

World Environment Day isn't just another date on the calendar. It’s the UN's annual day to extend global awareness and drive action towards environmental protection. By focusing on land restoration, desertification, and irrigation, this year’s event, hosted by Saudi Arabia—a nation characterised by its vast deserts—demonstrates a perfect synergy between theme and location. The Arabian Peninsula, with its expansive Rub’ Al Khali desert, is an ideal backdrop to discuss and address land degradation challenges.

Understanding Desertification

Desertification, as defined by the UN, is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, primarily due to climatic and human activities. It affects large areas across the Middle East, Africa, and sub-tropical regions in Asia and South America. This environmental catastrophe not only threatens biodiversity but also the livelihoods of millions. To combat this, the UN Environment Day provides guidance on sustainable land management practices, modern irrigation techniques, and robust agricultural models. The goal is to foster resilience against drought and promote soil moisture conservation.

How Can We Support #GenerationRestoration?

Embracing the theme of Generation Restoration means taking proactive steps to support environmental sustainability. The UN's guide for World Environment Day offers practical suggestions for individuals, communities, and businesses to contribute to land restoration and drought resilience.

For Individuals and Communities:

• Create Green Spaces: Transform balconies and rooftops into lush gardens.
• Volunteer: Participate in local projects aimed at redeveloping derelict or waste sites.
• Support Local Agriculture: Engage in sustainable farming practices and support local food systems.

For Businesses:

• Develop Green Infrastructure: Install green spaces inside, outside, and on top of buildings to provide habitats for wildlife and improve urban air quality.
• Integrate Sustainable Practices: Adopt sustainable technologies and systems for efficient energy, environmental, and waste management.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Embed ecosystem restoration into business models and community outreach programs.

Bringing Nature Back to Urban Areas

One of the most impactful actions we can take is to reintegrate nature into our cities and towns. The UN encourages creating urban green spaces, from community gardens to green rooftops, which not only enhance biodiversity but also improve the quality of life for residents. For businesses, this could mean developing green buildings, leveraging sustainable operations, and incorporating ecosystem restoration into their core strategies.

Key to achieving these often small yet effective goals - the sum of the parts is greater than the whole - is to invest in green infrastructure including environmental management systems, the most effective of which is that developed by the ISO.

“We cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, revive water sources and bring back soils. We are the generation that can make peace with land.”

UN World Environment Day

How can an ISO 14001 Management System help create a Sustainable Business Model

ISO 14001 is a process-based, risk-averse standard that aims to provide organisations with the framework they need to create an environment-centric culture and establish sustainable operations.

Developed on foot of years of granular research by experts in the field of environmental protection, sustainability, climate change and green-centric business operations, the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) is a robust, requirements-led structure compliance with which is environmental gift that keeps on giving, not just to successful sustainable business modelling, but to communities, nature and the welfare of current and future generations.

By integrating holistically-developed environmental management into their BPM, organisations can achieve growth, financial and performance targets in ways that are complementary to their sustainability targets and planned initiatives.

By virtue of its demand for optimal environmental best practices in areas such as waste and water management, ISO 14001 can act as the catalyst for ambitious business and CSR projects, such as greenifying towns and cities, implementing modern irrigation techniques and establishing a Smarter Network across rural and urban areas where everything from construction materials and how they are disposed of, to community-led sustainable employment initiatives and the establishment of local business led ‘green and clean’ schemesmcombine to deliver against local, regional, national and global environmental targets.

Organisations that implement an ISO 14001 EMS give themselves and their employees the advantage of having a robust process-based system in place which guarantees they can achieve on customer satisfaction, financial and sustainable targets in the most eco-friendly and efficient manner possible. In greening its operations, an organisation can significantly reduce workload, costs and carbon footprint whilst simultaneously boosting employee welfare and industry and brand reputation, along with their contribution to environmental conservation and protection.

“Governments and businesses have a leading role to play in reversing the damage humanity has done to the Earth, but everyday people also have a vital role to play in restoration, which is crucial to our future as a species.”

Bruno Pozzi, Deputy Director, Ecosystems Division UNEP

According to the UNEP, there are seven ways in which together we can restore land, halt desertification and combat drought. These include saving soil, restoring freshwater ecosystems and generating finance for restoration.

Whether time or geography constrained, in essence many of us will never be able to make any physical contribution to initiatives such as freshwater restoration. However, as individuals and business leaders we can come together to play our part by developing those Sustainable or CSR-focussed strategies, implementing eco-friendly business process management models and driving environmental awareness across the organisation or community to help shore up those with the expertise to lead such ground-breaking activities.

ISO 14001 EMS

If there is only one step that Senior Business Managers and Leaders can take this year to make that organic change to their operating model, it should be to implement an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. One small step for corporate leadership, one giant step for environmental protection.

ISO 14001

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