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 2024 is Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation. This year we explore how digital technologies and services can drive wildlife conservation, sustainable and legal wildlife trade and human-wildlife coexistence, now and for future generations in an increasingly-connected world.
For example, technological innovation has made research, communication, tracking, DNA analysis and many other aspects of wildlife conservation easier, more efficient and accurate. Yet, uneven access to these new tools, environmental pollution and unsustainable applications of certain technologies remain critical issues.
WWD2024 explores what digital innovations are available now, what intersectional discrepancies we are facing, and how we want our digital connectivity to evolve for all people and planet.
Previous Years
2023 – Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation. Celebrating all conservation efforts, from intergovernmental to local scale, and the partnerships that make a significant contribution to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation. 2023 also marked the 50th anniversary of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
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
