We celebrate World Wildlife Day every year on 3rd March to recognize the importance of wildlife across the globe. As we know, the world is full of amazing creatures from every possible medium. From the birds in the sky to the majestic whales in the sea, wildlife abounds in the most unusual and unexpected places. The animals and plants have an intrinsic value and contribute to the ecological, genetic, social, economic, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic aspects of human well-being and to sustainable development.
Dated back in December 2013, at its 68th session the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 3rd March –the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973-as UN World Wildlife Day. This day is being celebrated to raise awareness about protecting our diverse flora- fauna. UNGA resolution also designated CITES Secretariat as the facilitator for the global observance of this special day for wildlife on the UN calendar.
CITES announced the theme of this year’s world wildlife day- “Forests and livelihoods: sustaining people and planet” seeks to shed light on the links between the state of our planet’s forests and woodlands and the preservation of the millions of livelihoods that depend directly on them, with a particular attention to the traditional knowledge of the communities who have managed forest ecosystems and its wildlife for centuries.
Despite all our efforts at global level including all summits, meetings, conferences, seminars etc. organized by various global environmental institutions each year, our planet is still facing a global extinction crisis, never witnessed before by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. The current extinction crisis is entirely of our own making. More than a century of habitat destruction, pollution, the spread of invasive species, overharvest from the wild, climate change, population growth and other human activities have pushed nature to the brink. This is something that needs to be taken care of.
As it is clear from the above discussion that world level summits and interventions are not enough to save various species on Earth. So according to my opinion, If we love our planet, it must be our responsibility to take some own initiatives like spreading awareness among our surroundings, volunteering in plantation-drive, adopting greener eco-friendly way of life, judicious use of natural resources like water, land etc, to protect the diverse wildlife of our planet. Ensuring a lively habitat is the key to protect the wildlife.
So it is very important to make sure that the world’s biosphere remains healthy, every time we lose a plant or animal, we have no way of knowing if a cure for a disease or some new medical breakthrough was lost with them. World Wildlife Day is our opportunity to do our part in preserving our world. Hope for a healthy future full of plants & wildlife.
