The Suwon Resource Circulation Center in Gyeonggi Province is overwhelmed with piles of plastic recycling waste, raising concerns about the region’s waste management capacity. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will host a series of events marking World Environment Day from June 4 to 13, with a flagship ceremony taking place in Jeju on June 5—the first time in 28 years that the global observance is held in the country.
The ceremony, organized by the Ministry of Environment, will convene at the Jeju International Convention Center in Seogwipo. World Environment Day was first established in 1972 following the historic UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm and is observed annually on June 5.
This year’s theme is “Ending Plastic Pollution,” with the official slogan “Shared Challenge, Collective Action,” emphasizing global cooperation beyond national borders to tackle the crisis.
More than 1,300 participants, including high-level delegates from 20 countries—such as Laos, Bangladesh, and Japan—as well as representatives from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the OECD, foreign embassies, civic organizations, academia, and industry, are expected to attend.
During the ceremony, the Environment Ministry will unveil the “ACE Initiative”—short for “Action for Circular Economy.” The program aims to assist countries with severe plastic waste issues but limited management capacity by offering tailored support based on South Korea’s technical expertise and diagnostic frameworks. The initiative also presents new global outreach opportunities for Korean firms active in circular economy technologies.
On June 4, the day before the main event, the government will launch the “30X30 Alliance,” a coalition of government bodies, private corporations, and civil society groups committed to conserving 30% of the nation’s land as protected or nature-coexisting areas and restoring 30% of degraded land by 2030.
The alliance includes the Ministry of Environment and its affiliated institutions—such as the National Institute of Biological Resources and Korea National Park Service—alongside major corporations like Samsung Electronics, POSCO DX, and Hyundai Rotem. International bodies such as UNESCO Korea, WWF, and the East Asian Ramsar Regional Center are also participating.
The 30X30 initiative aligns with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference in Canada in December 2022. In response, South Korea formulated its Fifth National Biodiversity Strategy in December 2023, committing to designate 30% of its territory as protected or OECM (Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures) by 2030.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
