The Ministry of Environment (ME) hosted a ceremony for the 17th World Environment Day at the Cultural Ground in Yeouido Park in Yeouido, Seoul on June 5 with some 1,500 participants led by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Environment Minister Yoo Young-sook. This year’ s theme was “All Citizens Sharing the Results of Green Growth,” in recognition of this being the 5th year since the government’ s declaration of Green Growth.

Prime Minister Kim said in his congratulatory speech that all of us should be major players in practicing green growth in order to ensure the survival of not only humans, but also our only earth.

At the ceremony, 39 individuals, businesses, schools, and public institutions were given government citations and medals for their contributions to the preservation of nature. This year’ s event was more significant in that it looked back at what has been accomplished in the way of keeping the environment clean through the green growth campaign. It also became a starting point for new energetic moves toward preserving the environment under the theme “Grand Festival for People’ s Awareness for Green Growth.”

Various sideline events were held including test rides in electric cars, tours of waste energy generation facilities, and displays of environmentally friendly green products and other items that showed the results of what the Ministry of Environment has been pushing in the area of the preservation of environment so that the public can not only see them, but also physically experience them.

The sideline events were designed so that visitors could enjoy them and understand their importance, which included bicycle riding, making accessories with waste vinyl such as butterflies and ribbons, and games in which participants could win books on the environment, among others.

The events also included a green sharing donation campaign providing fair-trade coffee to those who donated goods to “beautiful” stores and a drive to raise money for the treatment of children’ s mental illnesses.     

The ME is set to hold various events in June, which is designated as Environment Month, such as an academic seminar on the environment, an environmental exhibition, and land cleaning activities across the country, totaling some 220 events to be carried out by public institutions and groups in an effort to sustain high public concern for the preservation of the environment.

Through both international and domestic events for the environment including the Green Consumption Festival (June 1-14), the OECD Environment Prospect 2050 Workshop on June 7, and the Rio+20 Summit scheduled for June 20-22, the ministry will continue to expand the growing concern for green growth by attracting public understanding and participation.

The significance of World Environment Day is that the 27th U.N. General Assembly agreed to designate it as June 5, its opening day, and recommended all member countries to observe the day to awaken the world to the importance of the preservation of the environment. Korea first observed the day in 1988 with the government holding an official ceremony and setting up various rules and regulations in relation to commemorating the day along with Presidential Order No. 18143 issued on May 30, 1996 naming June 5 as Environment Day in Korea.

The theme for this year’ s Environment Day commemoration is “Sharing the Results of Green Growth with the People,” with Korea being a nation leading the discussions of green growth globally and sharing the results with all the people. #