World Environment Day June 5th 2007 

World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. 

The World Environment Day theme for 2007 is Melting Ice – a Hot Topic? In support of International Polar Year, the WED theme selected for 2007 spotlight is on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, and the subsequent consequences around the world

Warming in this century is projected to be between 1.4 and 5.8 °C. The impacts of climate change are already visible. Examples include: the shrinking Arctic ice cap; accelerating sea level rise; receding glaciers worldwide; thawing permafrost; earlier break-up of river and lake ice; increasing intensity and duration of tropical storms; lengthening of mid- to high-latitude growing seasons; and shifts in plant and animal ranges and behaviour.                                        

The Earth has warmed by approximately 0.75 °C since pre-industrial times. Eleven of the warmest years in the past 125 years occurred since 1990, with 2005 the warmest on record. There is overwhelming agreement that this is due to emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), from burning fossil fuels.

Assessment of ice cores shows that there is more CO2 in the atmosphere than at any time in the past 600,000 years. Between 1960 and 2002, annual anthropogenic global emissions of CO2 approximately tripled. They rose by about 33 per cent since 1987 alone.

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