Every June 5, World Environment Day is celebrated, the most representative date for environmental mobilization on a global scale. The United Nations General Assembly established this event in 1972 under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the purpose of promoting awareness and action in favour of the planet. This year’s slogan urges action #PorElClimaYa and focuses on climate change and the need to accelerate solutions that allow us to adapt to its impacts, reduce emissions and strengthen the resilience of ecosystems.

The planet has been showing signs of deterioration for decades. Temperatures are breaking records, droughts are intensifying, extreme weather events are multiplying and glaciers are receding while sea levels continue to rise. According to the United Nations , the period between 2015 and 2025 has been the warmest on record and 2024 was the first to exceed pre-industrial levels by 1.55 °C, which exceeded the critical limit set by the scientific community. Meanwhile, scientific forecasts suggest that droughts could affect about 75% of the world’s population by mid-century and a third of current glaciers could disappear in the coming decades.

Faced with this scenario, climate action must be consolidated as one of the main international priorities. To keep warming below the 1.5°C limit, halving annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is imperative.

If this continues, the WHO estimates that direct damage to health could amount to between 2,000 and 4,000 million dollars per year before 2030. Likewise, according to various estimates, the economic impacts associated with climate change in the current scenario could amount to about 38 trillion dollars per year between now and 2060, approximately six times more than what it would cost to implement measures to not exceed two degrees of warming.

In particular, ecosystem restoration is one of the most effective and profitable tools in the face of climate change, capable of generating employment, attracting investment and strengthening the economic fabric of territories. In addition, forests, wetlands, soils and the ocean act as essential carbon sinks, regulating the water cycle, buffering the effects of extreme events and sustaining a wide range of biodiversity.

Cities are also a key area. The United Nations estimates that urban environments generate more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but they concentrate a large part of the opportunities to move towards more sustainable models. Urban green infrastructure, energy rehabilitation of buildings and sustainable cooling systems contribute to reducing emissions and improving the quality of life of citizens.

For this reason, the work of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) is oriented precisely in this direction. Through initiatives for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration or urban renaturation, it contributes both to reducing emissions and to preparing territories for climate impacts, which are already a reality.

World Environment Day reminds us that the response to climate change requires the joint involvement of public administrations, the private sector, the scientific community and citizens. Moving towards more resilient societies involves reducing emissions, adapting to impacts and strengthening the conservation of ecosystems that sustain human well-being and economic activity.