My name is David Ouma and I am a national UN Volunteer Specialist. I serve as Project Management Assistant at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi.  My academic background in Biology and my six-month internship in marine conservation at the Kenyan coast led to this UN Volunteer assignment. 

Nepal’s climate is strongly influenced by its topography, which varies greatly from the high altitudes of the Himalayan mountain range in the northwest to the lowlands in the southeast. The lowland regions of Nepal have a warm and humid sub‐tropical climate. Its people are largely engaged in climate sensitive and subsistence livelihoods with low adaptive capacity, thus vulnerable to climate change.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Stockholm Conference, the theme of this year’s World Environment Day “Only One Earth” calls for collective and transformative change, highlighting the need to live sustainably in harmony through climate action. As the resources of our planet is limited, no one is spared from the impact of environmental degradation.

Since we can't reduce what we don't know, my first activity was to identify the different sources of emissions and then to calculate the quantity of greenhouse gases that UNDP emits." Larissa identified electricity as the main source of emissions and developed a prioritized and concrete action plan. She organized awareness sessions for the staff to adopt environmentally-responsible practices to reverse the trend.

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. 

UNV has joined hands with several partners to protect the environment and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Shingirai is one of the talented cadres of committed volunteers deployed by UNV to catalyse and promote climate action in Gokwe South. As a UN Volunteer, Shingirai is in a unique position to mobilize communities and strengthen their resilience through alternative livelihoods, water provision and harnessing renewable energy in response to climate change impacts. --J. Mushosho, Programme Analyst, Environment and Climate Change, UNDP