5 June: connecting the web of life

5 June 2002 marked the 30th World Environment Day. As is usual every year, many events were held the world over to commemorate the occasion, which was in keeping with the original resolution passed at the 1972 Stockholm conference. The resolution had recommended that 'the General Assembly of the United Nations designate 5 June as World Environment Day and decide that on that day every year the United Nations system and the governments of the world undertake worldwide activities reaffirming their concern for the preservation and enhancement of the human environment, with a view to deepening environmental awareness and to pursuing the determination expressed at the Conference.' This year's theme was 'Connect with the World Wide Web of Life'. Speaking of web, the World Environment Day certainly did not pass unnoticed on the other web, namely the World Wide Web on the Internet: a quick search for the phrase scored, within a tenth of a second, about 16800 hits on Google, a popular search engine. Narrowing the search to the year 2002 turned up no fewer than 7570 hits. Therefore, it is a reasonable assumption that, 30 years down, the event has established itself firmly on the global calendar. It would be churlish to bring up examples of environmental accidents on such occasions. In fact, the World Environment Day each year is expected to focus on positive programmes that work towards protecting or restoring the world's natural heritage-and what is more natural than air and water? The Kyoto Protocol received a boost recently when Japan ratified it. Nearer home, the event marked the release of the Delhi Action Plan 2002/03 for greening Delhi. Good omens for the Johannesburg summit later this year? Let us keep our fingers crossed.