Qatar Celebrates World Environment Day Tomorrow

Doha, June 04 (QNA) - Qatar celebrates tomorrow, Wednesday this years World Environment Day (WED) which falls on June 05 of every year . World Environment Day 2013 will be celebrated under the theme, "Think, Eat Save," focussed on anti-food waste and food loss, encouraging people to reduce their "foodprint". According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger. The WED is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. World Environment Day activities take place all year round and climax on 5 June every year, involving everyone from everywhere. The World Environment Day celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become one of the main vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action. Through World Environment Day, the United Nations Environment Programme is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development. In an address on the occasion , the Ministry Of Environment said this year's celebration under the theme, "Think, Eat Save" aims to take action from your home and then witness the power of collective decisions you and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimise the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient. The Ministry of Environment stressed that the State of Qatar as part of the international system involved in this campaign, has sought to strengthen food security through a wide range of measures and actions, as had the agricultural sector, like other sectors of the economy, gained much support and attendion on part of the state to achieve targets of sustainable agricultural development and bridging the food gap and securing food security for citizens and residents alike. The Environment Day is also a day for people from all walks of life to come together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations. Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment, this years theme Think.Eat.Save encourages you to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices you make and empowers you to make informed decisions, said the address. The Ministry of the Environment and for three days , starting from 6 to 8 June and in cooperation with the national campaign for civilized behaviour which in charge of a project for planting a million trees, will distribute about 2,500 seedlings on the visitors of some commercial and shopping complexes namely Landmark ,Villagio center ,Wathnan Mall , Souq Waqif and City Center Complex. While the planet is struggling to provide us with enough resources to sustain its 7 billion people (growing to 9 billion by 2050), FAO estimates that a third of global food production is either wasted or lost. Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts. This years campaign rallies you to take action from your home and then witness the power of collective decisions you and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimise the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient. If food is wasted, it means that all the resources and inputs used in the production of all the food are also lost. For example, it takes about 1,000 litres of water to produce 1 litre of milk and about 16,000 litres goes into a cows food to make a hamburger. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions from the cows themselves, and throughout the food supply chain, all end up in vain when we waste food. (END)