by Yoshie Hayakawa (UNV Associate Programme Officer, Nepal)

14 June 2009

Kathmandu, Nepal: A ‘world environment programme’ was held in Kirtipur, a suburb of Kathmandu in Nepal, on the occasion of World Environment Day.

The UNV Nepal Country Office is supporting local initiatives to promote volunteerism in Nepal, and this event was one of the activities for which UNV provided financial support in line with UNV’s International Volunteer Day theme, ‘Volunteering for Our Planet’.

Local organizations and groups including the ‘Returned United Nations Volunteers Association of Nepal’ (RUNVAN), and ‘Friends of RUNVAN’, as well as local women’s groups, were some of the active supporters for the programme.

On the day, the participants gathered in front of a local school in Panga ward in Kirtipur and started cleaning the neighbourhood area.

Then, the participants joined in a rally and marched around the local area led by a local marching ‘band’, carrying banners and chanting slogans to deliver messages for raising awareness of environment issues and climate change. The rally returned to assemble for the public speeches.

Programme coordinators, representatives of participating organizations, local political party leaders, officials of the municipal Government, and other invited guests delivered speeches to appeal for actions to protect our environment. 

Mr. Christian Simmelkiaer, UNV Nepal Programme Officer, conveyed a special message from the UN Secretary-General for World Environment Day in his speech. 

The programme successfully ended with closing remarks by the President of the world environment programme in applause of the participants and the guests.