Speaking on the occasion, Vyas said that ``Once the youth start taking an interest in the environmental cause many unemployed could be enrolled in the scheme,''. She also gave away the Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad award to Parks and Garden's Director Mohan Patel. Speaking on the occasion, Patel said that every individual was responsible for the environment, and if no care was taken it would be too late to do anything about it.

L J Parekh, former dean of the M S University's Faculty of Science, warned in his speech that ``If the damage to the environment continues then people will not be alive to celebrate the last World Environment day of the 21st century.''

An essay competition and a tree plantation programme were held at S K Vidyalay in another function.