World Environment Day

World Environment Day, celebrated every June 5 around the planet, is dedicated this year to an important issue: we must give the Earth a chance. The planet must be allowed some respite from the damaged caused by human activities.

"Our planet is still in need of intensive care," said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his World Environment Day address.

At the web site of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) on World Environment Day 2002, it is made clear that in spite of the progress made in recent years, many of the human activities that hurt the planet in the 20th century persist today.

"Poverty, pollution, and population growth; rural poverty and rapid urbanization; wasteful consumption habits and growing demands for water, land and energy continue to place intense pressures on the planet's life support systems, threatening our ability to achieve sustainable development," said Annan.

A recently released UNEP report, Global Environment Outlook, states that within a few years 70 percent of the world's land surface could be seriously damaged by infrastructure projects, resource exploitation and the expansion of… civilization.

The World Environment Day theme - Give the Earth a Chance - is closely linked with the crucial meeting convened for this year in South Africa, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+10, where it is hoped that the world's governments will agree on measures for confronting the most urgent environmental problems.

World Environment Day has also been tied this year to the commemoration of International Year of Mountains.

The city chosen to host the celebration of World Environment Day 2002 is Shenzhen, China. However, around the world public and private institutions are holding environment-related events, many of which are aimed to raise public awareness about protecting the Earth.

World Environment Day was established by a UN resolution 30 years ago, in 1972. It is a member of a family of more than 50 special days set aside by the international forum as a means to call attention to issues that affect all peoples and nations.

UNEP: World Environment Day
World Environment Day: Shenzhen Official Site
Message from Kofi Annan
UNEP: Global Environment Outlook (GEO)
World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002
International Year of Mountains

The Cactus

The image conjured by the cactus is a plant covered in thorns that grows in the desert. And it is true; cactus species are adapted to survive in situations of extreme dryness, though this trait is not enough to ensure they will survive in the modern world.

On the Internet, information about cacti appears in relation with "succulent plants", which encompass a wider variety of species adapted to scarcity of water. The cactus is indeed a succulent, though it has its own family, the cactaceae, which according to the Cactusland portal, covers approximately 2,500 species.

Succulents, meanwhile, are much broader, with 30 families and some 10,000 species, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN). This international group has proposed an action plan for preventing the environmental depredation that endangers some 2,000 species within that group.

The main threats are related to loss of habitat. But another important danger is the illegal trafficking in rare and attractive cactus species, which is feeding a global market.

Many individuals have made cacti their hobby, growing them and creating special gardens, a growing phenomenon that is apparent in the numerous cactus-related web sites, in which some use the term "cactomania".

These plants possess special characteristics that allow them to better take advantage of and store water. The most obvious are the thorns, adapted leaves that protect the plant from other water-seekers..

While water may not be abundant, Internet sites dedicated to the cactus sure are. There are directories with links to questions and answers about these plants, illustrations, photographs and how-to for cactus gardening, and even recipes.

Portal: Cactusland
Smithsonian: Cactacea Illustrated
Cactus Q&A
Classification: cactaceae
Directory: Cactus Mall
IUCN: Conservation Action Plan for the Cactus

Ecotourism Summit

Ecotourism, or ecological tourism, is a phenomenon of modern times that combines the passion for travel with concern for protecting the environment. It has become an important economic activity, to the point that it has prompted a global summit devoted to the issue.

The World Ecotourism Summit, taking place in Canada (May 19-22), is the highlight of the International Year of Ecotourism, convened by the United Nations for reflection on the best ways to promote this activity.

Ecotourism provides an opportunity to generate economic alternatives for communities located in some of the world's most beautiful areas without harming the environment. However, if tourist activity takes place without adequate planning, it could have devastating ecological effects.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which organized the summit in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization, cites the World Conservation Union's definition of ecotourism: environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features - both past and present) that promotes conservation, has low negative visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socioeconomic involvement of local populations.

The summit was convened in order to discuss the key aspects for developing ecotourism, including the challenges of sustainability, regulation, the required institutional frameworks, marketing strategies and oversight.

"Ecotourism is in essence tourism that is sustainable, that does not cause harm" and should therefore provide benefits both for nature and for the local communities, says the website of the Ecotourism Association of Brazil, one of the countries that holds major attractions for environmentally-minded visitors.

There is a great deal of information on the Internet about ecotourism, much of it aimed at promoting excursions and locations for potential travelers. But there are also web sites dedicated to studying the development and impact of this activity, as is the case of the enormous portal of the International Ecotourism Society.

The Ecotourism Summit has caused an increase in material available on the subject, such as the publication of documents and books about environmental tourism in a world in which hundreds of millions of people travel each year.

World Ecotourism Summit
UNEP-WTO: International Year of Ecotourism 2002
UNEP: World Summit on Ecotourism
UNEP: What is ecotourism?
International Ecotourism Society
Ecotourism: principles, practices and polices for sustainability
Ecotourism portal