Bhutan

Volunteers register more than 370,000 hours of climate work

People around the world are volunteering hundreds of thousands of hours to tackle climate change. A new website page has been set up by UN Volunteers programme to count the hours of the volunteer work.

Since the website started two weeks ago, people have registered more than 370,000 hours of volunteer effort. The website campaign, ‘Volunteering for our Planet’, is the UN Volunteer’s contribution to the UN campaign to Seal the Deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which opens on 7 December.

UNV Bhutan encourages all volunteers to register at this webpage www.VolunteeringForOurPlanet.org. By this act you help the UNV to send a strong signal to world leaders that everyone is part of the solution to climate change.

“Volunteers started the global environmental movement and we are an essential part of the solution to climate change. Taken on their own, a few hours of effort by an individual volunteer might not look like very much, but our campaign is demonstrating that the combined actions of thousands of volunteers around the world add up to a tremendous contribution to the global effort to address climate change, said Flavia Pansieri, UNV Executive Coordinator.

Volunteers are taking action to climate change across many areas, including environmental education in Egypt, agriculture in Kenya, energy in China and waste and pollution in Germany, to mention some projects.

With the local theme ‘Volunteering for Our Earth’, the celebration of the International Volunteer Day (IVD) will be taken place in Damphum Tsirang Dzongkhag on 4-5 December in 2009. The local school volunteer clubs and volunteers from 14 local and international volunteer involving organisations (VIOs) will be participating in the celebration.

The United Nations Volunteers programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide.