April 22 – International Mother Earth Day

April 22nd marks not just a significant holiday, but a truly global one – International Mother Earth Day – the day of our shared cozy home.

The holiday was established at the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in 2009 and has been celebrated since 2010. The President of the Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, stated that the proclamation of this international day is an acknowledgment that the Earth and its ecosystems are our home and provide life for humanity.

The theme for this year's day in 2024 is "Planet or Plastic." This slogan calls us to take decisive action to reduce plastic consumption and halt the most widespread pollution of our planet.

Plastic is a material with unique properties, extremely useful in many industries, from simple product packaging to the construction of spacecraft. But its most significant advantage is its low production cost. In pursuit of profit, we produce more and more plastic, turning a blind eye to the harm we inflict on nature and our own health, but this cannot continue.

Belarus is one of the European countries with the largest area of untouched wilderness. Changes in ecosystems, including those caused by the introduction of "plastic components" into them, pose a threat to living organisms. This is precisely why Belarus is doing everything possible to avoid these changes.