For information only - not an official document

UNIS/MA/250
30 May 2019

MEDIA ADVISORY

Celebrating World Environment Day 2019

Premiere of "We are walking on" dedicated to World Environment Day and the SDGs at the Vienna International Centre

Friday, 7 June 2019, 12.30 p.m.

Vienna International Centre, Rotunda

VIENNA, 30 May (UN Information Service) - Representatives of the media are invited to the celebration of the 2019 World Environment Day "Beat Air Pollution" at the United Nations in Vienna, organized bythe UN Environment Vienna Office - Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention, in cooperation with the UNESCO Club Vienna and the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna.

The event will feature the Viennese premiere and live performance of the song and accompanying video "We are walking on", which are dedicated to World Environment Day and the Sustainable Development Goals. The performance highlights our pressing need to embrace a sustainable life if we are to ensure that this world we have been gifted will not become a victim of our greed and carelessness.

The song is a combined effort by Los Angeles-based Grammy Award Winner, music producer, and songwriter Sadaharu Yagi, Italian music artist and guitarist Federico Ferrandina, and Berlin-based Italian singer Azzurra. The accompanying video was directed by award-winning film director Puja Maewal.

World Environment Day, celebrated each year on 5 June, is the United Nations' most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. This year's theme is "Beat Air Pollution".

The event will start at 12.30 p.m. on Friday 7 June in the Rotunda of the Vienna International Centre.

Speakers include: UNOV Deputy Director-General Dennis Thatchaichawalit on behalf of Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) Yury Fedotov, Harald Egerer, Head, UN Environment Vienna Office - Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention, Waltraud Petek, Deputy Director-General for Environment and Climate, Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, Austria, and US Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award Winner and Goodwill Ambassador of the City of Kitakyushu (Japan) Sadaharu Yagi.

For further information on the programme of the event, please click here

INTERVIEW REQUESTS

Please be informed that we will be available to support you with potential interview requests, especially with:

Sadaharu Yagi, US Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award Winner, Goodwill Ambassador of the City of Kitakyushu (Japan)

Harald Egerer, Head, UN Environment Vienna Office - Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention

Please register for the event and address your interview requests, unless indicated otherwise, with your preferred interview partners, your availability and potential questions to:

Ms. Jessica Bitsch, +43-1-26060-83165, jessica.bitsch@un.org or press.vienna@un.org.

Other interview inquiries can be arranged upon request.

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

Media representatives who wish to attend the event, and who are not accredited to the Vienna International Centre, should write to press.vienna@un.org. Access to the Rotunda is via Gate One of the Vienna International Centre. 

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For more information, please contact:

Jessica Bitsch
UN Environment Vienna Office
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-83165
Email: jessica.bitsch[at]un.org

or

Maria Naderhirn
NGO/CSO Liaison
United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-3324
Email: maria.naderhirn[at]un.org