Each year, on 3 March, we celebrate World Wildlife Day. Established in 2013 by the UN General Assembly to raise awareness of the issues affecting the world’s wild animals and plants, it is now the most important global annual event dedicated to wildlife. Through events such as World Wildlife Day, we are starting to understand and appreciate, not only the impacts that human activity is having on the natural world, but how our own wellbeing and survival is inextricably linked to the health of the planet.
Annual Themes
The theme for World Wildlife Day 2022 is Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation. It allows us to celebrate all conservation efforts, from intergovernmental to local scale. Within this theme, the day has a focus on two sub-topics:
-Marine life & oceans – with around 70% of our planet being covered by water, the impact of marine conservation is incredibly important.
– Business & finance – globally, conservation efforts need to be funded and this work needs to be done in collaboration with business – an area that, in the past, has been seen as exploitative and unsustainable. Successful partnerships for conservation must find ways of including business if we are to reverse the loss in biodiversity.
2023 is also a very special World Wildlife Day, in that it marks the 50th anniversary of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). CITES has stood at the junction of trade and conservation, with Parties to the Convention working with the shared goal of ensuring sustainability of endangered species.
The theme Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation will provide the opportunity to highlight the people who are making a difference as well as to celebrate the bridge that CITES has been for these partnerships to form, making a significant contribution to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation.
Previous Years
2022 – Recovering Key Species for Ecosystem Restoration. This aims to draw attention to the conservation status of some of the most critically endangered species of plants and animals and, particularly, the dependence of entire ecosystems upon them.
2021 – Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet – This is to highlight the essential role of forests and their delicate ecosystems in sustaining the lives of millions of people globally. More than 200 million people live within or close to forests around the world, relying on them for their most basic needs including food and shelter. Without protection and management, the destruction of forest habitats will be a disaster for their human populations as well as their wildlife.
2020 – Sustaining All Life On Earth
2019 – Life Below Water
2018 – Big Cats: Predators Under Threat
How To Get Involved
Join people around the world in observing World Wildlife Day, and spread the word on social media using #WorldWildlifeDay. By simply showing an interest, you can help raise awareness. For more ideas about how to bring World Wildlife Day into your home, workplace, or class room, visit the official page website at www.wildlifeday.org/content/get_involved
