Green Games Celebrated On World Environment Day 2009

June 5 is World Environment Day 2009. World Environment Day was established at the 27th session of the UN General Assembly. The date was chosen in commemoration of the start of the Stockholm Environment Conference in 1972.

Tokyo 2016 celebrated the event with huge numbers of people in Japan participating in pre-environment activities.

A Tokyo 2016 press release says Tokyo 2016's commitment to raise awareness of environment issues worldwide to host a Carbon-Minus Games and act as a catalyst for Tokyo's' progress in world-leading green initiatives. It echoes the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Climate Heroes scheme which celebrates green activists worldwide to inspire others.

In Tokyo World Environment Day celebrations will centre on Yoyogi Park, an area integral to the city's Olympic heritage. Ecolife Fair 2009 will take place in Tokyo June 6-7 where large numbers of environmentally conscious Japanese people will go to learn about green issues and enjoy organic, Fair Trade and responsible sourced food and drink.

To mark World Environment Day, Sochi 2014 and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow the Russian organizers to work with the environmental experts of the UNEP to review preparations of Sochi 2014 and build on international environmental best practice as it stages the 2014 Games.

The MOU confirms that Sochi 2014 and the UNEP will cooperate closely on several other projects, including environmental education schemes before, during, and after the Sochi 2014 Games. Sochi 2014 will also take part in the UNEP's Billions of Trees Campaign.

Meanwhile the first lock to be built in London for nearly two decades was opened Friday, creating a new low-carbon freight route to the site of the London 2012 Games, reports the Guardian.

The new lock opens up the Bow Back Rivers, a network of waterways in and around the Olympic Park, creating not only a green gateway for freight barges to enter the Olympic construction zone, but it will also be an environmental asset for the new neighbourhoods being planned on the Olympic Park site once the Games are over.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said, "we want the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be the greenest Games ever. Funding the Three Mills Lock will not only take many lorries off local roads, reducing thousands of tons of CO2 and local congestion, it will also provide a green freight route for the redevelopment of east London, and open up the waterways for boaters, walkers and cyclists".

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