A global media campaign aimed at alerting the public across the world to the need for environment protection was launched in Beijing on Sunday.

The campaign was jointly initiated by Xinhua News Agency, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Reuters, to coincide with the World Earth Day on Sunday.

UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said he hoped the "Xinhua-spearheaded communications campaign will inspire the public to the rich array of possibilities and encourage those making decisions on all our behalf to show the leadership needed to break with the past in order to break into a sustainable future in 2012."

He said the launch of the global media campaign on the Earth Day would "take us on a journey through UN World Environment Day under the theme A Green Economy: Does it include you? to Rio+20 and the UN General Assembly where, 40 years ago, UNEP was legally founded."

The campaign was first advocated by Xinhua President Li Congjun in November 2011 during a meeting with Steiner, who is also UN Under-Secretary General.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres told Xinhua in a recent interview all environment issues were "very complex ... it's something where you have to go through a concerted long-time campaign that actually brings down to the level of the public what the climate is about."

She said she believed Xinhua had taken a very good approach because the initiative was not just about reporting the results of one conference or the other, but a much deeper commitment that the media needed to take.

Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of UNCCD, told Xinhua the implications of desertification on food, water, energy and even human security were not well known.

"Not only do I welcome the initiative of Xinhua, but I also see the potential to work together to take on the issue that is often overlooked, to take it out of what I call 'blind spots'," he said.

The global campaign, which includes many events on a series of key dates such as the World Earth Day, the World Environment Day on June 5 and the Rio+20 summit on June 20-22, will focus on environment protection efforts worldwide and the environmental problems facing humankind.

Xinhua and other related institutions will work together to raise the general public's awareness about environment protection and sustainable development through multimedia reporting and joint photo exhibitions on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of UNEP and ahead of the Rio+20 summit.

Xinhua President Li said concentration on global environment problems was the social responsibility of the media. And as a responsible international news agency, Xinhua attached importance to its social responsibility and was dedicated to promoting solutions to problems facing humankind.

The campaign is yet another global event for public good sponsored by Xinhua and a number of UN agencies, after conducting similar activities on children, food, poverty and HIV/AIDS.

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