European University of Lefke (EUL) Faculty of Engineering Lecturer Assist. Assoc. Dr. Saltuk Pirgalıoğlu made explanations regarding the meaning of the day and the theme of this year due to the 5th June World Environment Day. 

Campaigns to create national and international environmental policies that will increase environmental awareness are being conducted.

“It was declared as the world environment day by the United Nations on 5 June and has been celebrated since 1974. The World Environment Day is being evaluated to raise awareness about environmental problems in the world, ”said Pirgalıoğlu. In this context, he said that a new theme is determined every year and campaigns are being carried out to increase environmental awareness and create national and international environmental policies.

He said that a country is chosen as a host every year and the host country is leading the campaigns to be held on the theme of the year. “As an example of host country activities; In 2018 (the year of struggling with plastic waste), the event of collecting rubbish from the coastline, in which 6000 people attended in the host India, was organized, and the Indian government announced that until 2022, disposable plastics (drinking water bottles etc.) will be banned in the country ”. He stated that similar bans by European countries would come into effect by 2025.

Pirgalıoğlu:  The theme of 2020 is biodiversity

“The theme of 2020 is determined as Biodiversity. “The diversity of species considered to be over 8,000,000 by biodiversity scientists and the genetic diversity within the species itself,” said Pirlukluoğlu, pointing out that the diversity of living things can have many impacts on environment, food safety (agriculture) and health. Pirgalıoğlu stated that living things live in a nested network in nature and that even subtraction of one of these interacting species from equation will cause visible effects.  He also added it is estimated that human activities such as environmental pollution, destruction of natural habitats and excessive resource consumption increases this speed up to 100 times today.

Pirgalıoğlu: Small precautions for the environment are a start

Finally, Pirgalıoğlu pointed out that we need to reduce our impact on the environment as much as possible in order to leave a world that can be lived for the next generations, and that the small measures taken at home can be a start. “Even if there are small steps for us, such as minimizing energy and water consumption, reducing our domestic waste, avoiding disposable plastics as much as possible, we can observe significant savings and a reduction in our environmental impact,” said Pirgalıoğlu.