Communities in the Pomio District of East New Britain (ENB) have been reminded again to protect their surrounding environment for the future generation to use and enjoy when marking World Environment Day on Monday 05th of June. For the first time in history the District celebrated the World Environment Day 2023 at Palmalmal. The celebration was facilitated by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA), PNG Red Cross and the East New Britain Provincial Government. The Natural Resource Management and Development Division (NRMD) Coordinator, Florence Paisparea, with the team were in Palmalmal to celebrate the day with the District Administration staffs, the schools and the surrounding communities. The celebration began with a float in the Palmalmal area then proceeded to the administration block for speeches and presentation of items from the primary schools. Pomio Acting District Administrator, John Liskia, said this is the first of its kind for the district to celebrate the day in a big way and commended the partners for making the day a successful. He said that the day reminds the communities to look after the environment because Pomio has many beautiful beaches, beautiful untouched forests and flowing rivers that needs to be protected. “We need to be reminded about the importance of looking after our environment so that these environments will be here for our future generation.” Liskia stated that there must be reforestation and challenged the people to be proud of their environment and stop throwing rubbish into the sea. Paisparea also shared the same sentiments, saying that it is important that people need to look after the environment as in other places today, people are destroying their environment. Therefore, everyone need to start working together to find solutions to keep the environment safe and clean. The theme for the celebration is ‘Solution to plastic solution’ and this awareness encourages and raise action for the protection of the environment. In addition to this, Paisparea said that this is the 50th anniversary of the World Environment Day and has developed as a platform to raise awareness on the problems facing the environment such as air pollution, plastic pollution, illegal wild life trade, sustainable consumption, and sea level rise and food security.