by Khin Pwint Oo

08 June 2009

Mawlamyine, Myanmar: To mark World Environment Day, national UNV volunteers in Myanmar together with UNHCR core staff and working partners planted indigenous mango tree saplings in the premises of the UNHCR hub.

This tree-planting event which took place in the Mawlamyine hub was followed by a speech on World Environment Day 2009 by one of the national UNV volunteers serving with The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  The documentary film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was also shared. Finally, an item was added to our agenda for all who celebrated the event to enjoy organic fresh mangoes!

World Environment Day 2009 was very special indeed, because it was regarded and celebrated as global. It is special for national UNV volunteers of UNHCR too, because we are regarded as UN members and so we believe that we should be in solidarity with the UN family. As our implementing and potential partners are locals, we can say that on the day of the event we did bring on board the ‘locals’ as well.

We, as UNV volunteers, together with UNHCR staff members, consider we are a part of our planet earth and the world environment we are in. We have to take part in World Environment Day, a global event raising awareness about climate change, and undertake the responsibility to save our future generations.

World Environment Day was not only celebrated in Mon State in Mawlaymyine, the township where we are working, but also in other administrative states and divisions in Myanmar, where all Government bodies included in the program marked the day.  For our part, we UNV volunteers as well as UNHCR staff speak in confidence that we celebrated this event with all our hearts and souls, and with genuine enthusiasm.  All UNV volunteers working in Mawlamyine are very satisfied with what we have done with the resources that we have.

UNHCR in Myanmar works with implementing partners such as Bridge Asia Japan, the Myanmar Red Cross Society, and also with a potential partner ‘Alliance’.

We do believe that the World Environment Day 2009 event could at least capture the attention of partners working with UNHCR, in order to share with them the vital importance of the environment – particularly the human environment, which is the mandatory concern of UNHCR to its people of concern.

As national UNV volunteers working for UNHCR in Myanmar, we were indeed happy to join World Environment Day 2009. The opportunity itself was a ‘blessing in disguise’ because it promotes awareness among us that we, as UN members, are "to unite to combat climate change" as proclaimed in the 2009 Theme.

Global warming and climate change are ‘catchwords’ used alarmingly in the world of today and we all have an obligation to do our best to rescue planet earth for our future generations!