International Forest Day 2021: History, theme, significance, everything you need to know about

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New Delhi: International Forest Day is celebrated every year on March 21. This year's theme is "Forest Restoration: a path to recovery and well being." Simply meaning, sustainable management of forests will build a better future. 

Countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to raise awareness on the significance of forests, organising activities like tree plantation campaigns etc. 

"The death of the forest is the end of our life"- Dorothy Stang

Quoted by Dorothy Stang, the statement is itself self-explanatory. We directly or indirectly make a connection with forests. They provide us with everything from paper to nutritious foods to medicines and are a major tool to combat climate change.

People around the world depend on forests for livelihood and daily needs. Most importantly, they are the lungs of this Earth, without them, no life can survive on this planet. Therefore, it becomes necessary for everyone to act in a responsible way and spread consciousness about the importance of saving Forests. 

The UN General Assembly announced March 21 as International Forest Day in November 2012 to raise awareness of the significance of forests. First UN International Forest Day was marked on March 21, 2013. 

According to the UN, deforestation accounts for 12 to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Thus, it becomes our duty to plant more trees, for a healthy environment. 

Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, earlier in the day, launched a new Nagar Van Scheme on the occasion of International Forest Day. 

Since ages,we had a very important tradition of village forest
The new Nagar Van scheme to develop 200 Urban Forests aims to fill gap because urban areas have Gardens but very rarely forests;creating urban forests will also create additional carbon sink#InternationalDayofForests pic.twitter.com/NEm0Sj2QHo — Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) March 21, 2021