DiCaprio, Touré, Somerhalder supporting UNEP World Environment Day 2015

International celebrities and activists including the actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Ian Somerhalder, footballer Yaya Touré, and Kenyan singer-songwriter, Suzanna Owiyo, are supporting the United Nations’ World Environment Day 2015 on Friday to promote sustainability and action on climate change.

World Environment Day (WED) is observed every year on 5 June and is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to raise awareness of environmental issues and catalyse action on climate change.

The UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors, also including Indonesian-Australian model and actress Nadya Hutagalung, Chinese actress and singer, Li Bingbing, and singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, have formed a ‘Dream Team’ to encourage the global community to make pledges in support of the international Sustainable Development Goals focusing on waste reduction, water, food and energy, and sustainable consumption of natural resources.

In a statement on the official WED 2015 website, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, said: “The goal of sustainable development is to increase the quality of life for all people without increasing environmental degradation, and without compromising the resource needs of future generations. We can do this by shifting our consumption patterns towards goods that use less energy, water and other resources, and by wasting less food.”

Mr Ban added: “In this year of transformation, when we hope to see great advances on sustainable development and climate change, let us celebrate World Environment Day by becoming more conscious of our ecological impact. Let us think about the environmental consequences of the choices we make. Let us become better stewards of our planet.”

In a similar statement, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said: “The theme for this year’s celebrations, Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care, emphasizes that personal responsibility each one of us bears for enabling inclusive and sustainable economic development while stabilizing and reducing the rate of resource use. Today, unsustainable patterns of consumption and production are one of the major causes of the continued deterioration of the global environment.”

Steiner concludes: “I would like to invite everyone to imagine what the world would be like if each of the 7 billion people made one change towards a more responsible consumption of resources. I would like you to hold on to that vision and strive to make it reality—be it refusing to buy single-use plastic bags or riding a bike to work. WED is the opportunity for everyone to realize the responsibility to care for the Earth and to become agents of change.”