June 5 marks the 30th anniversary of World Environment Day, established by the United Nations to mark a conference on the human environment in Stockholm in 1972 and the creation of the UN Environment Programme.

Three decades later, it remains a key date for promoting environmental awareness and focusing political attention on the many issues affecting the natural world.

This year’s theme is “Give Earth a Chance” and the UN is calling on everyone to help heal the planet. “In spite of considerable efforts and significant achievements, many of the problems which plagued the earth during the 20th century still linger,” says Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UNEP.

Now more than ever, it believes the environment must remain at the top of the global agenda.

Host to the main international celebrations for World Environment Day on June 5 this year will be Shenzhen in China, but events including street rallies, bicycle parades, concerts, tree planting and recycling and clean-up campaigns will take place in towns and cities in more than 100 countries to mark the day.

Last year, Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a message to pupils attending a World Environment Day debate at the Science Museum in London. “When my parents were growing up, the world’s population was less than three billion. During my children’s lifetime, it is likely to exceed nine billion. You don’t have to be an expert to realise that sustainable development is going to become the greatest challenge we face this century,” Mr Blair said.

World Environment Day will also draw attention to the International Year of Mountains. It has been established by the UN to raise the profile of mountains, which play a vital role in collecting and storing the substance that sustains life on earth - fresh water.

More than half the world’s population relies on water that flows from mountains. However, many mountain ecosystems are under threat from a variety of natural and man-made factors such as climate change, pollution, exploitative mining, agriculture and tourism.

These all lead to widespread degradation and heighten the chance of floods, landslides, avalanches, famine and other disasters.

Already, 2.3 billion people face serious water shortages, mostly in developing countries. If current trends continue, by 2050 as many as 4.2 billion people will be living in countries that cannot meet the minimum daily requirement of 50 litres of water per person each day, according to a recent UN report.

Meanwhile, war is threatening sustainable development in the world’s highlands. In 1999, 23 of the 27 major armed conflicts around the world took place in mountainous regions, ranging from the Balkans to the Andes in South America.

The consequences of war have been only too graphically demonstrated in Afghanistan, where the battle against the Taliban has decimated the country’s infrastructure.

Fighting prevents crops from being grown, roads and schools are destroyed and the emotional trauma of war can tear countries apart. The UN says mountain areas suffer more from the effects of conflict because they are often the poorest and least developed places, as well as being home to indigenous peoples.

A teaching kit looking at mountain people and the importance of mountain ecosystems will be available in August from the International Year of Mountains co-ordination unit.

For details about events in Britain, contact Andrew Macpherson Email: andrew.macpherson@perth. uhi.ac.uk, World Environment Day: www.unep.orgwed, International Year of Mountains: www.mountains2002.org and www.iym.org.uk