NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS OBSERVANCE OF EARTH DAY AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, 22 APRIL
Press Release
NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS OBSERVANCE OF EARTH DAY AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, 22 APRIL
20000419Mrs. Annan Will Join Celebrity Youth in Launching A World Environment Day Children's Tree-Planting Campaign
An observance of Earth Day will take place on the Visitors' Plaza on 22 April at 3 p.m. Nane Annan, wife of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will welcome young celebrities Camilla Belle ("Practical Magic"), Zachary Ty Bryan ("Home Improvement"), Vanessa Lee Chester ("Harriet the Spy") Katrina Gibson ("Price of Glory"), Miko Hughes ("Mercury Rising"), Lindsay Lohan ("The Parent Trap"), Jena Malone ("Stepmom"), and Jason Mays ("Stepmom") along with twelve-year-old Ecuadorian environmental activist Hugo Lucitante, all of whom will participate in a group planting exercise to launch a worldwide children's tree-planting campaign that will culminate on World Environment Day, 5 June.
There will be performances by Senegalese vocalist Mami, the band No Authority, the Harlem All-Stars Steel Orchestra, the United Nations International School (UNIS) Choir, and opera singer Aprile Millo. Ms. Millo will be accompanied on piano by composer Marvin Hamlisch.
The day's event will include several interactive workshops and exhibits, including a workshop run by the New York Botanical Garden, in which children can pot up a small plant to take home with them; a native butterfly exhibit by the American Museum of Natural History; and a fix-a-flat-tire workshop by Recycle-a- Bicycle. Specially prepared packets of kenaf seeds will also be distributed.
The Earth Day event is co-sponsored by the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Children Uniting Nations, a United States-based non-governmental organization, with the support of Kafus Industries Ltd.
For further information, please call (212) 963-6923 or (212) 963-7708; for media accreditation, (212) 963-6934; for United Nations television coverage, (212) 963-7650.