5 June is Environment Day

THE ADVENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY AUTO-RICKSHAW
  ~ http://www.un-bd.org  

Air and noise pollution has become a major health hazard to the residents of Dhaka. Auto-rickshaws are responsible for 25% of the particulate matter and 60% of the toxic and smog-forming hydrocarbons contributed by all motor vehicles.

A UN-assisted project is bringing hope to the inhabitants of Dhaka. The project promotes the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternative transportation fuel, not only to help reduce the increasing air and noise pollution in the city, but also to support the national policy for making Bangladesh more energy self-reliant. Bangladesh has large reserves of natural gas, and CNG can be made available to domestic consumers at lower prices than imported oil.

The project will initially assist the CNG conversion of 300 auto-rickshaws, with the expectation that they will inspire all 60,000 auto-rickshaws currently plying in Dhaka city, to shift to the cheaper and cleaner technology.

http://www.unep.org

UNEP logo  

World Environment Day will be launched on 4 June at the Department of Environment (DOE). Since 5 June is a national  holiday, the government is planning to observe the day in advance. The event will also mark the formal inauguration of DOE complex. The Prime Minister will be the chief guest, the Minister and State Minister for Environment, and the UN Resident Coordinator, will be guest speakers on the occasion. Programme on 5 June includes a rally in the morning and an environmental fair at Osmany Memorial Hall. NGOs are participating.

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL 

MESSAGE FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

All of us have to share the Earth's fragile ecosystems and precious resources, and each of us has a role to play in preserving them.  If we are to go on living together on this earth, we must all be responsible for it.  

This year, the United Nations and the World Resources Institute are marking World Environment Day by launching the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  This worldwide scientific enterprise will map the health of our planet, and so fill important gaps in the knowledge we need to preserve it.

Making the right choices will be hard, but not impossible.  Already, we have advanced technologies for avoiding waste and destruction.  And we have ideas and skills, which can place our economies on a more sustainable footing.  It is
time to bring those ideas out of the libraries, and those skills out of the laboratories.  It is time to put them into practice.

One in every two jobs in the world depends directly on the sustainability of ecosystems.  And no one is immune from the consequences of climate change, the destruction of bio‑diversity, or other grave threats to the environment.

As we embark on a new century, let us resolve to adopt a way of life that can be sustained right through it.  Let us be good stewards of the Earth we inherited from our parents.  And let us preserve it for our children, and their children after them.