Minister of environment with invitation to join Norway in celebration of world environment day

Norway has been selected by the United Nations to host World Environment Day, 5 June. This year's theme is literally a hot topic: the impacts of global warming on earth's ice and snow covered regions. Environment Minister Helen Bjørnøy has encouraged a wide range of events at local level. The main celebrations are to be held in Tromsø on 3 and 4 and 5 June and in Oslo on 5 June.
 
- The theme which Norway has chosen for World Environment Day is 'hot' in a number of ways, says minister Helen Bjørnøy. - I hope that World Environdment Day will help attract even more attention to what is happening to the climate throughout the world, intensifying the environmental debate and promoting constructive policy-making, says Bjørnøy.
 
Bjørnoy adds that the UN's choice of Norway as host nation for the day is a boost to the Government's goal of taking the lead internationally on environmental issues.
 
The aim of World Environment Day is to spread knowledge and stimulate extensive interest in environmental matters. Since its inception in 1972, the same year as the establishment of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), about 100 countries have joined in the annual celebrations.
 
During the main event in Tromsø UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner and Helen Bjørnøy will present a global environmental Outlook report on ice and snow compiled by Norwegian and international researchers.
 
- The report will provide an important basis for additional research and initiatives, says Bjørnøy. It confirms that areas of permanent snow and ice are melting. The meltdown that is currently taking place in the polar regions, in the Andes and the Himalayas, and in Africa and Europe has wide-ranging consequences for man and nature, says Bjørnøy.
 
The minister has drawn up a comprehensive programme for World Environment Day. HRH Crown Prince Haakon will be present in Trømso on 3 June. The day will start with a World Environment Ecumenical Prayer for guests from a variety of religious communities, conducted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
 
In the evening there will be a gala performance in the Tromsø cultural centre. The performance will be broadcast live on NRK TV.
 
On Monday 4 June the Government will host a seminar and roundtable discussion in connection with the 20th anniversary of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development report "Our Common Future". Former Prime Minister(and chair of the commission)Gro Harlem Brundtland and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will open the seminar. Here, too, guests are invited from Norway and abroad.
 
After the seminar the Norwegian Polar Institute has organized an international conference on climate change, at which speakers will include Dr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and UNEP leader Achim Steiner. This conference continues through 5 June, where there will also be a conference programme on Nordic perspectives and a youth programme.
 
 In Oslo on 5 June the foundation behind the international environment-and-development award, the Sophie Prize, will gather former prize-winners for an awards ceremony and roundtable conference. This too will be broadcast on TV by NRK the same evening.
 
June 5 will also see the opening of an international art exhibition at the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo: the theme of the exhibition will be climate.
 
Stressing that World Environment Day is meant to be largely a popular event, the environment minister has urged local groups to organize their own events. Schools have already expressed great interest in taking part. All interested parties are asked to register at the World Environment Day home page www.wed.npolar.no to be included in the UN's global survey of activities and initiatives.
 
See www.wed.npolar.no for more details of World Environment Day.

See Programme - World Environment Day 2007 (pdf)

See Brochure - World Environment Day 2007 (pdf)