On June 5th, we celebrate World Environment Day. The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which is responsible for the annual celebration of World Environment Day.

Its establishment in 1973 came a year after the first world conference on the environment, the “United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.” Bringing together 122 countries, it was the first time that the environment truly became a global issue.

Over the years, the celebration of this date has brought together organizations from civil society, academia, industry, and political power, becoming one of the largest global platforms for environmental awareness. In 2023, the focus of this day’s celebration is on the theme of plastic pollution, under the slogan “Beat Plastic Pollution,” with the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and the Netherlands as the host countries.

The Center for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) invites you to celebrate World Environment Day with us in the Renato Araújo Auditorium of the University of Aveiro’s Rectorate Building.

Exhibition “Creatures from Here, Creatures from There”

Between 10:30 and 11:00, come to the atrium of the University of Aveiro’s Rectorate Building, have a coffee, and visit the photographic exhibition “Creatures from Here, Creatures from There.”

At 11:00, we will officially open the exhibition in the Renato Araújo Auditorium (adjacent to the atrium), with speeches from the University of Aveiro’s Rector and the Scientific Coordinator of CESAM.

The exhibition will be available for viewing by all interested parties until June 30, 2023.

Exhibition Synopsis

In every corner of planet Earth, nature is full of stories of drama and resilience. By analyzing the various ecosystems that cover land and water surfaces, we can observe differences but also many similarities in how they function and how they tell their stories. On this planetary stage, there are millions of actors, many of whom we do not know. However, we can identify certain roles that, being common to all ecosystems, help us decipher the secrets hidden in the Biodiversity landscape.

The “Creatures from Here, Creatures from There” exhibition consists of a presentation of 7 modules with 41 panels that address concepts, behaviors, and conservation aspects with examples of fauna species from Portugal, Brazil, and Mozambique. In this way, visitors can observe how nature unites these three countries and speaks a common language in how different species perform similar functions, wherever we are.

Partnerships for a Sustainable Future

During the week of May 29 to June 2, under the auspices of UNEP, the final negotiation of an international binding agreement to combat plastic pollution will take place in Paris. This negotiation results from over a year’s work by the International Negotiation Committee (INC), established in February 2022.

As UNEP states, “The rapid growth of plastic pollution levels poses a serious global threat, negatively impacting the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable development. If current trends continue, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple: from 9 to 14 million tons per year in 2016 to 27 to 37 million tons per year by 2040.”

In this context, our celebratory session, under the theme “Partnerships for a Sustainable Future,” includes a lecture directly related to the issue of plastic pollution and presents a group of guests who will talk about strategic partnerships, current and future, as well as opportunities and mechanisms to establish and/or strengthen them (e.g., EU missions).

Solutions for Plastic Pollution:

Teresa Rocha Santos, Researcher at CESAM/DQ, University of Aveiro

Partnerships for a Sustainable Future

Jorge Ferrão, Rector of the Pedagogical University of Maputo, Mozambique

Márcia Chame, Researcher, Biodiversity and Wildlife Health Institutional Platform, Presidency of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil

Maria de Jesus Fernandes, President of the Portuguese Order of Biologists

Mariana Alves, Co-director of the “Letters with Science” program and researcher at CIDTFF, University of Aveiro

Teresa Pinto Correia, “Soil Missions” of the EU, Full Professor, MED-CHANGE, University of Évora

Helena Vieira, “Ocean and Waters Missions” of the EU, researcher at CESAM/DAO, University of Aveiro

To learn more about the global platform associated with this day (where we are registered), you can access it here.