Javadekar urges nation to plant more trees on World Environment Day

Minister of State for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar called on citizens to plant more trees and create one's own oxygen bank on the occasion of World Environment Day on Sunday.

United Nations celebrate World Environment Day on June 5 every year to raise global awareness and motivate action for environmental protection.

The theme for the World Environment Day-2016 is 'fight against the illegal trade in wildlife'.

On the occasion, Javadekar released a book and a Digital Video Disk (DVD) based on the life of leopards and their safety.

"The theme of World Environment Day today is to save the wild animals, to stop brutality on wild animals and to try to support them. We are working on it today," Javadekar said in Mumbai.

In a bid to send across a message to shun use of plastic, Javadekar burnt polythene bags and asked people to follow suit.

Meanwhile, in Visakhapatnam, a 'green rally' was organised by the Pollution Control Board.

Hundreds of people including ministers took to the streets in support of a cleaner environment.

The rally was flagged off by state education minister, Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

City Joint Collector, Nivas asked people to begin garbage segregation at their homes to control pollution.

"I would appeal to the public.the thing has to start from their home so, we need not do big big things. If the garbage segregation takes place in the home and if we are able to segregate the organic, degradable and the non-degradable plastics and we are able to help the municipality and the corporation in the endeavor doing the garbage segregation, then I think this problem will not come at all. And, we will go a long way in the pollution control and the garbage management," said Nivas.

India has four of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air pollution, the World Health Organization said last month.

New Delhi was the survey's 11th worst city, measured by the amount of particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic metre of air. Delhi had an annual average PM2.5 measurement of 122.