UNDP Indonesia issues a unity message to mark World Environment Day
To mark World Environment Day, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesian today released a video message highlighting the country office’s diverse nationalities and ethnicities who are speaking with one voice to support the urgency of this year’s theme “We Only Have One Earth”.
Holding a plant to symbolize growth and development, the staff called on viewers to be part of the solution to the environmental crises. The six staff delivered the message in sign language and their native languages, which included Bahasa Indonesia, the dialects from the Padang and Toraja regions of Indonesia, Swahili, Mandarin and English.
“Swift actions will nurture a sustainable planet, giving us result that we must protect,” said John Kimani, a UNDP Indonesia staff member from Kenya, speaking in Swahili.
“Caring for our planet will restore the ecosystem But, we can’t act alone,” said Sakina Tarmizi, another member of UNDP Indonesia’s staff, speaking in Padang dialect.
The video complements the global United Nations campaign, held annually by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to promote environmental action. The message was published just days after Stockhom+50, marking half a century after the first conference, highlighting the importance of multilateralism in tackling the world’s triple planetary crisis – climate, nature and pollution.
This year marks 50 years since the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, the first world conference to make the environment a major issue. Participants at that conference adopted a series of principles for sound management of the environment, as part of the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment.
Indonesia is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, following increased global pollution, as well as higher population density and an unsustainable rate of consumption. With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to be met in under a decade, environmental advocates hoped that the Stockholm+50 conference provided a platform for Indonesia to advocate for its priorities to tackle climate change: sustainable human consumption through the development of a circular economy and through sustainable ocean management, not least by reducing marine plastic debris.
