UN chief calls for "sustainable and resilient future" on Earth Day 2015

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the global community to "build a sustainable and resilient future" on International Mother Earth Day Wednesday.

"We can never outgrow our reliance on Mother Earth," said Ban in a message to mark the day. "This dependence makes it all the more astonishing that we have allowed rapid and often unwise human development to disrupt so many of the delicate systems that have functioned harmoniously for millennia."

The year 2015 brings a critical opportunity for change since it is expected to finalize the post-2015 sustainable development agenda and reach a global climate change agreement this year.

"These processes (the post-2015 sustainable development agenda and the climate change agreement) have the potential to redefine our future for the better, by eradicating extreme poverty in all its forms and resetting our relationship with this planet and every living being it sustains," Ban said.

"This can be the year our children and grandchildren will remember as when we chose to build a sustainable and resilient future -- both for Mother Earth and all those that development has until now left behind," said Ban.

Since the 1970s, Earth Day, which has no international designation, has been celebrated in many countries to inspire awareness and appreciation of the environment.

In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a draft resolution initiated by Bolivia and designated April 22 as International Mother Earth Day.

"Today, on Mother Earth Day, I ask each one of us to be mindful of the impacts our choices have on this planet, and what those impacts will mean for future generations," Ban said. "The power to change begins with you." Endite