Kathmandu, June 6: President Ramchandra Paudel has extended his best wishes to one and all on the occasion of World Environment Day on Wednesday.

As called by the United Nations, every year June 5 is celebrated as World Environment Day. This year, World Environment Day is being celebrated with the national slogan “Our Land, Our Future”.

In his message, President Paudel said, “I have taken this day as a day for all of us to improve the environment around our homes and make the ecological relationship of forests, water, plants, agriculture and animals life-oriented to ensure the right to live in a clean environment as provisioned by the Constitution of Nepal.”

President Paudel said that due to human overexploitation of natural resources, imbalance has arisen in the ecological system around us. “To restore it, I sincerely invite everyone to adopt a nature-oriented lifestyle and promote environmental improvement activities,” he said.

Plastic waste created by the unorganised and unscientific use of plastic polymer has become a major environmental challenge of the present time, the President said.

He said the Environment Protection Act, 2076 and the Environment Protection Regulations, 2077 have made arrangements to address the potential impact on the environment from any construction work conducted by the Government of Nepal with the concept of sustainable development that development and environment are not mutually exclusive but complementary.

“I believe that today will provide more enthusiasm to implement the issues and commitments made by Nepal in various international forums to reduce the impact of air, water and land pollution on Nepal,” he said. 

President Paudel said, “Finally, I would like to express my best wishes that the development of infrastructure in our country, which is rich in natural resources with abundant biological diversity, will inspire us to move towards the common goal of environmental protection while imbibing the concept of sustainable development.” 

Likewise, in a separate message issued on the occasion, Vice President Rmsahay Prasad Yadav has said that deforestation in the name of unmanaged and unscientific building of physical infrastructure and urbanisation has badly spoiled the environment.  He also urged to make the environment animal-friendly to avoid future crises by planting trees, expanding forest areas, controlling the use of green gases, and using environment-friendly tools and solar and electric goods instead of fossil fuels.