Origins of World Rivers Day
World Rivers Day is based on the great success of BC Rivers Day in British Columbia, Canada which started in 1980. The BC event was founded by acclaimed river conservationist, Mark Angelo, who also served as the inaugural World Rivers Day Chair. Under Mr. Angelo's leadership, BC Rivers Day grew to the point where it attracted up to 100,000 participants across the province and its success also inspired the creation Canadian Rivers Day. When the United Nations launched the Water for Life Decade initiative in 2005, Angelo believed that a grassroots-led international event focusing on the need to better care for the world's waterways would be a great complement to this event. After extensive communications with environmental non-government organizations along with lobbying various UN agencies, the first World Rivers Day took place in 2005 and was embraced by millions of people in close to 30 countries.
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