By Our Reporter
Improving the level of happiness around the world means a lot more than just “individual contentment.”
That’s the heart of the message from UN chief Ban Ki-moon on the International Day of Happiness, celebrated with a smile on Sunday.
The UN is focusing this year’s international day on how taking action to mitigate harmful climate change can make for a happier planet.
The Secretary-General said that celebrating on Sunday was a “global chance to assert that peace, well-being and joy deserve primacy.”
Rather than focusing on personal happiness, this was a chance, he added, to appreciate the value of “collective responsibility” embodied by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“By advancing progress towards the interlinked” goals, “we can help spread happiness and secure peace.” he said.
On Friday the UN teamed up with the popular Angry Birds mobile phone game characters, who “famously lack good cheer” in Mr Ban’s words, to raise awareness about the importance of climate action.
In 2012 the first ever UN conference on Happiness took place and the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which decreed that the International Day of Happiness would be observed every year on 20 March. It was celebrated for the first time in 2013.
