World Environment Day commemorated each year on 5 June. World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm conference on the Human Environment. That date was chosen because it was the opening day of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
(Stockholm, 1972), which let to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, website: http://www.unep.org). The World Environment Day theme selected for 2004 is “Wanted! Seas and Oceans-Dead or Alive?” The theme asks that we make a choice as to how we want to treat the Earth’s seas and Oceans. The great philosopher who developed the Principle of Responsibility , Hans Jonas, remarked, “Today, mankind is a bigger threat to the sea than the sea has ever been to mankind”.

The main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2004 will be held in Barcelona, Spain in close collaboration with the Universal Forum in Cultures.

Previous years’ themes of world Environment day are: Water-Two Billion People are dying for it!(2003), Give Earth a chance (2002), Connect with the World Wide Web of Life (2001), The Environment Millennium-Time to act (2000), and in 1974 it was “Only one Earth”.