Journalism at the service of nature. By María García de la Fuente (President of APIA)

Maria Garcia de la Fuente President of APIA

Every June 5th, World Environment Day is celebrated, but for environmental journalists, it's our daily work. The environment is the focus of our work, and we strive to ensure that our articles, reports, and interviews make it increasingly known and respected. If journalists provide a public service by reporting, environmental journalists also serve nature.

A key date for the UN and the planet

World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 5, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. Each year, the focus is on a specific issue, and this year, the UN wants to draw attention to plastic pollution.

Worldwide, humans produce more than 430 million tons of plastic each year, two-thirds of which are ephemeral products that quickly become waste that invades the oceans and often reaches the human food chain, according to the UN.

Plastic is an indispensable part of our lives due to its many uses, such as in medicine, construction, textiles, and food preservation. However, single-use plastics are harming ecosystems, flora, fauna, and ourselves.

Ridding the planet of plastic pollution would significantly contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to climate action, sustainable production and consumption, protection of seas and oceans, and ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation.

Educate, inform, act: the role of environmental journalism

To prevent these plastics from ending up in nature, we need everyone's participation, and environmental education and information are essential. Therefore, the role of environmental educators and environmental journalists is essential to prevent and avoid the use and waste of plastics. Environmental information is key to raising awareness, sensitizing, and taking action.

This World Environment Day is celebrated exactly two months before countries meet again to continue negotiations toward a global treaty against plastic pollution.

The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as it did two decades ago, and most of it ends up in landfills, incinerated, or leaking into the environment, and only 9% is successfully recycled, according to a recent OECD report. This figure is unsustainable and can only be reversed through environmental education and information. And the role of environmental journalists is more necessary than ever.

Maria Garcia de la Fuente

President of the Association of Environmental Information Journalists (APIA)

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