Under the UN-selected theme of Deserts and Desertification and the slogan “Don’t Desert Drylands!,” numerous events marked World Environment Day on 5 June 2006.

Algiers, Algeria, hosted the main observances, including UNEP’s International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment, which featured images of water and life, desert biodiversity and deforestation. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika urged the adoption of a World Charter on Deserts to help achieve a Millennium Goal of halving poverty by 2015. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) altered the day’s slogan to make it more applicable to many refuge situations: “Combat Land Degradation in Refugee-Hosting Areas.” UNEP issued guidelines for desert tourists to preserve the environment, including the suggestions that they drink purified instead of mineral water in plastic bottles, take old batteries back home and use gas rather than firewood for cooking.
In a pre-World Environment Day event on 2 June 2006, the Geneva Environment Network organized a roundtable to discuss whether the international community should create global environmental goals to provide new impetus and a benchmark for attaining progress on environmental sustainability. Four presenters, Jean Fabre, Director in charge of communications at UNDP in Geneva, Hilary French, Senior Advisor for Programs at the Worldwatch Institute, Thomas Kolly, head of the International Affairs Division of Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment, and Claude Martin, former Director General of WWF International, made presentations on this subject, followed by a question-and-answer session. Frits Schilengmann, Director of the UNEP Regional Office for Europe, moderated the discussion. Participants emphasized that setting environmental goals would identify priorities and ensure continuity between governments. The view was expressed that there is a disconnect between the growing number of international environmental agreements and increasing environmental degradation, and that Millennium Development Goal 7 is not sufficiently precise or strong and does not integrate environmental concerns into development. Participants suggested that global environmental goals hold the potential to bring coherence to the currently fragmented and disorderly array of international environmental regimes (IISD sources).
Links to further information
UN News Center report, 5 June 2006
Reuters news story, 5 June 2006