As part of UN Day celebrations taking place across the world on Sunday 25 October, the 25 UN agencies with offices in Brussels will celebrate the occasion under the theme ‘UN at 70 - We the Peoples’.

An information village will be set up in the city’s Grand Place highlighting the work of the UN under its four pillars: Development, Human Rights, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action.

UNEP will be represented at an information booth on the Development pillar, held together with UNDP, UNISDR, UN Habitat, UNRWA, FAO, UNIDO, UNCDF and UNITAR.

There, UNEP will highlight some of the major UN achievements for the environment and explain the new Sustainable Development Goals through an interactive activity.

The 2015 edition of UN Day marks the 70th anniversary of the United Nations.

For more information please visit www.unbrussels.org in the coming days
or contact: alexa.froger@unep.org

Those wishing to enhance their knowledge of marine litter issues have the opportunity to take part in a web-based course organised free of charge by UNEP in cooperation with the Open University of the Netherlands.

A Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) presenting practical options for fighting marine litter in local contexts will be held between 26 October and 20 December and is aimed at activists, policymakers, researchers and others.

In 2010 alone, an estimated eight million metric tonnes of plastic entered the oceans, threatening marine life and even ending up in human food. The waste is broken down into smaller pieces by sunlight, oxidation and waves, amplifying the problem.

UNEP’s 2014 Champion of the Earth prize was awarded to Boyan Slat, who at the age of just 19 founded the Ocean Clean Up initiative with the aim of using natural currents to clear up the plastic.

In order to sign up for the course, please click here.
For more details write to wondwosen.asnake@unep.org