International Mother Earth Day provides an opportunity to raise global public awareness of the challenges to the well-being of the planet and all the life it supports. The Day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth, to achieve a just balance among the economic, social, and environmental needs of the present and future generations of humanity. 

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) designated 22 April as International Mother Earth Day through resolution A/RES/63/278, adopted in 2009.