Barcelona, Spain

World Environment Day (WED) in Barcelona, Spain - the venue for the 2004 international celebrations - was marked by a series of colourful, imaginative and substantive events related to the theme seas and oceans. The City of Barcelona, the Autonomous Government of Catalan, the Government of Spain and the Universal Forum of Cultures pulled out all the stops to make this United Nations day a memorable one. Activities, spanning more than a week, included a dialogue on Water for Life and Security chaired by the Executive Director of UNEP, Klaus Toepfer, a workshop on Sustainable Development and Coastline Conservation at the University of Barcelona, a number of conferences at various libraries in the City, the global launch of UNEP's International Photographic competition and of the UNEP-WCMC report on cold water coral reefs, a performance entitled Giant of the Seven Seas depicting the deterioration and contamination of the world's oceans, the release of rehabilitated turtles into the sea, a Speaker's Corner, an international film festival on the environment, a Festival of the Sea, which highlighted specific environmental issues, parades, painting competitions, and much more.

The official ceremony on 5 June, presided by Her Royal Highness Infanta Cristina, was attended by more than 1,800 people. Also present were the Minister of Environment of Spain, the President of the Catalan Government, the Mayor of Barcelona and the Executive Director of UNEP. The event included the presentation of two awards to the late Spanish environmentalist Dr. Ramon Margalef and to the Catalan Company Aires, as well as dramatic performances on the WED theme.

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Nairobi-Mombasa, Kenya

Kenya Celebrated WED 2004 through a variety of events. These included a programme organized by UNEP's Regional Office for Africa in cooperation with the Kenyan government in Mombasa.

UNEP staff also organized an innovative and exciting programme in Nairobi,
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Paris, France

The city council put a WED announcement on 177 electronic panels throughout Paris from 26/05 to 5/06 (see attached photograph) and displayed 100 WED posters in city halls and public libraries

Addis Ababa-Zeway, Ethiopia


World Environment Day was celebrated in several parts of Ethiopia on 5th June. The biggest events were in the Addis Ababa and in Zeway, a zonal town in Oromia State. In the celebrations in Addis Ababa, UNEP was a partner in a working group coordinated by the Clean and Green Addis Society (CGAS), a multi-stakeholder group, in close collaboration with the Addis Ababa Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the Addis Ababa City Council.
Several sponsors contributed material and financial support for the celebration, among them the Sheraton Hotel, the Forum for Social Studies (FSS), Mobile-Ethiopia, and the Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR)

While San Francisco celebrated WED 2004, preparations are well underway as the city gets ready to host the 2005 global celebrations of World Environment Day.

The event marks the first time that the UN has held World Environment Day anywhere in North America. Green Cities is the theme for WED 2005.

More information on WED 2005

Tokyo, Japan

As part of the annual World Environment Day celebrations, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) held Nineteen parallel launches of its fourth International Photographic Competition on the Environment, sponsored by Canon Inc., including a launch in Tokyo, Japan.

Other launches took place in key cities and centres around the globe including Beirut, Buenos Aires, Dakar, Berlin, New York and Barcelona, the venue of this year's global WED event.

The competition, called "Focus on Your World" and centred on the theme "Celebrating Diversity," will run until 24 October, 2004 and is open to all nationalities and ages. A Gold Prize of $20,000 will be awarded to the winner of the General category, which is open to applicants aged 25 years or over. There are also separate categories and cash prizes for "Youth" and "Children".More