June 5 — World Environment Day: history and traditions of the holiday

An international ecological holiday, World Environment Day, will be celebrated all over the planet on June 5. In 2025, the date falls on Thursday. Read about the history of the holiday, its features and traditions in the Izvestia article.

The history of World Environment Day

This international holiday has more than half a century of history. The celebration of World Environment Day was proclaimed on December 15, 1972 at the 27th session of the UN General Assembly. The date was chosen in honor of the start of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, which was held in Sweden the same year.

As a result of the conference, the Stockholm Declaration was adopted, which established 26 principles of environmental conservation. The human right to "freedom, equality and adequate living conditions in the environment" was also recognized. A year later, the first environmental day was celebrated. It was first held on June 5, 1973.

The celebration of World Environment Day is held under the leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), this organization was also approved in December 1972 at the 27th session of the General Assembly.

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Features of the celebration of World Environment Day

Each year, the UNEP appoints the country of the holiday, which will host the main international events. In 1973, Geneva, Switzerland, was the capital of the holiday.
Since 1974, its own theme and the official motto of the holiday have been chosen.

For the first time, the motto sounded like "Only one Earth", the events were held in the American city of Spokane (Washington state). It was repeated in 2022 at the anniversary events of the holiday in Stockholm.

In 2025, South Korea has been chosen as the host country for the main events of World Environment Day, and the holiday will be dedicated to the problem of environmental pollution by plastic. "Stopping plastic pollution" is the motto of this year's event.

This issue has already been addressed by World Environment Day 2023, when the country of the holiday was Côte d'Ivoire. Last year, the main events were held in Saudi Riyadh and were devoted to the problem of land desertification, land restoration and drought resistance.

The UN resolution of December 15, 2025 calls for annual events on June 5 that confirm the common desire to preserve and improve the environment.
In some countries, the importance of this event is emphasized by holding national holidays dedicated to the protection of nature. So, in Russia, Ecologist's Day is celebrated on this date, which was approved in 2008.

Earlier, Izvestia reported on Land Reclamation Day, a professional holiday for soil quality improvement specialists, which was celebrated on the first day of summer.