World Environment Day, June 5, observed around the globe

In Kenya, the national celebrations were held in Mwingi district, a semi arid area in Kenya's Eastern Province.

The events were spearheaded by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) the United National Environment Programm UNEP as well as other government agencies.

Speaking to KBC, Nema's Deputy Director in charge of Environment, Education and Public Information Betty Nzioka said Mwingi was selected because the region is among those areas in the country that have experienced severe effects of climate change, and subsequently affecting food productivity and livelihoods.

"Seasons have failed, and so it has had the most the most rapid change. We felt that as we celebrate, we need to be in a place which is actually affected so that we can encourage residents to take action," said Nzioka

“Previously, mistakes and failures by human societies were limited — in both space and time — in the damage they could achieve,” said Brendan Mackey, chairman of Earth Charter Initiative’s (ECI) International Education Advisory Committee.

Speaking at a program organized by the Environment Ministry in Kathmandu, Nepali Constituent Assembly (CA) chairman Subash Nemwang pointed out the vulnerability that Himalayan nations bear. "We are experiencing the consequences of global warming in our country," added Nemwang.

"Tens of billions of dollars are being earmarked for carbon capture and storage at power stations with the CO2 to be buried underground or under the sea."

"But perhaps the international community is overlooking a tried and tested method that has been working for millennia, the biosphere," he said. "By some estimates the Earth's living systems might be capable of sequestering more than 50 gigatonnes of carbon over the coming decades with the right market signals."