World Environment Day: “Call For Governments Around The World To Protect The Environment”

Today is 5th June 2023 and it is World Environment Day. This day is celebrated globally and provides the opportunity to spread awareness about the environment and the need to conserve it. The Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity (HCIF-PFS) advocates greener environment and conservation of nature.

On this World Environment Day, we call on every government to earnestly pursue laws that protect the environment and the inherent rights of those who defend environmental human rights. The Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity underscores that defenders of the human rights of the environment should be considered as heroes and heroines for putting themselves at risk to protect the rights and well-being of others.

Evidence abounds that brave women and men who work to protect the environment suffer brutal injustice that include harassment, intimidation, incarceration, solitary confinements, threats and even death for voicing out their grievances against the merciless exploitation and destruction of the natural environment we all live and depend for our survival. That is to say, some of the defenders of environmental human rights are often killed, merely for opposing powerful business and governmental interests bent on degrading our environment, and through climate change threatened human existence on the environmental planet.

It is important to understand that the health and living of future generations would depend on how we conserve the environment. It is heinous to think that we can use up all the resources for ourselves without a share for those to come after us. Human rights, including rights to life, health, food, water, and housing can only give expression in a healthy and sustainable environment.

World Environment Day is a wakeup call to aware and to take action to save the environment. Thus, this day reminds us again of our duties and responsibilities to the future generations, to strengthen the world and ensure that nature is preserved at all costs. It throws light on the causes which are causing serious harm to our environment.

In Africa for instance, there are a lot of diseases that germinate and surface due to poor environment and dirty water. It is here that we must accelerate the campaign for environmental justice and human rights. This is easy to explain. When for instance, water remains stagnant and remains dirty for a long period, it would lead to breeding of insects and bacteria. This in turn leads to outbreak of preventable diseases like Malaria, Dengue, Cholera and more, which kill millions around the world annually. For this, we call on communities and individuals to ensure that tanks, pots, coolers, tins, etc are covered to prevent them from becoming breeding ground for such insects and diseases.

On other issues such as garbage disposal, especially in poor communities, people litter around everywhere without regards to environmental health. Proper and responsible disposal of waste is essential to keep the environment clean and safe for human habitat.

Thus, this day of World Environment Day serves as a reminder to protect the environment at all costs. We must endeavour to do everything to conserve natural resources, from forests to oceans and soil to air.

The Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity (HCIF-PFS) is a registered member of the Global Waste Cleaning Network (GWCN) in the United Kingdom. As such the Foundation owes it as a duty and responsibility to promote the vision, mission and underlying values of the GWCN.
Sender:

Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh

President of the Governing Council and International Executive Director
The Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity (HCIF-PFS)