UNEP is actively seeking young, passionate, and skilled talent from less represented regions of the world to join the organization and become the environmental leaders of tomorrow. This online recruitment drive will last until 15 May 2023. This is your chance to help us all work together to protect our Earth; your chance to help us shape your own future. --Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, speaking to potential applicants in a video message

For Fahamiya Abdou, World Environment Day is special for more than one reason. As a highly experienced environmental professional, preserving nature and the environment has always been close to her heart. But World Environment Day also marks the anniversary of her journey to joining the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a UN Volunteer for an ecosystem restoration project. 

It is often said that experience is the best teacher. As a UN Volunteer helping communicate complex environmental issues, my everyday challenge is to make nature relevant to people’s everyday experiences and needs. Our experiences and immediate needs shape our outlook on life. However, biodiversity and environmental issues are often too complex and difficult to relate to. Most people, in their daily routines, live and work in cities, spending the bulk of their time indoors, surrounded by concrete walls and engulfed in a world that seems largely man-made.

Imagine living close to a river and not knowing if and when the rivers will rise above normal levels. Imagine a large wave of rain flooding your land, destroying your home while washing away your dear belongings. This was the reality of many Laotians during the rainy season in 2018.

As a Forest and Nature Conservation Specialist, Vanessa Falkowski had been working at a rural settlement when she decided to move to Luanda, Angola, to take up her assignment as Biodiversity Officer with UNDP within a project for the Expansion and Strengthening of Angola’s Protected Area System. The Angolan civil war that came to an end in 2002 was followed by the destruction of several protected areas, resulting in the loss of many forests, animals, and nature.

If I can describe the work of the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme in one sentence, I would say that it works for both the protection of the environment and development. Most people would think that protecting the environment is something that distracts society from developing technologies, facilities, and the making of profits. However, GEF SGP is the place where we research how to do both simultaneously.

Port au Prince, Haiti: I am an international UN Volunteer with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) engineering section, specialized in administration and finance. I have a dedicated passion for nature and the environment and have volunteered in my home country of Gambia to promote sustainable and profitable solutions to urban environmental challenges. 

During the first UNV Partnerships Forum that took place in Bonn, on September 30th and October 1st 2014, eight UN Volunteers were given the floor to share their experience as UN Volunteer. In this video, Wei Li, National UN Volunteer from China, tells about her volunteering in raising awareness on environment issues.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: As a UN Youth Volunteer, I have been assigned to the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) liaison office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and my assignment here is slowly coming to an end. My role as an Environmental Outreach Specialist includes increasing UNEP's visibility, environmental awareness and communication, as well as acting as a liaison with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Forestry.

Astana, Kazakhstan: The only things I knew about Kazakhstan were from a comedy film, and also that it was a huge country. This was before that evening when I opened my email to discover an offer for a United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme’s assignment at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Kazakhstan.