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World Wildlife Day is celebrated on March 3 of every year. The world is full of amazing creatures, from birds of the air to whales of the sea and they live in unusual and unexpected places in the world. Wildlife is very beneficial to us in many ways. Hence World Wildlife Day is a day to celebrate and to raise awareness to the world about the importance of Flora and Fauna.
“I am not against extracting the modest amount of wildlife out of the ocean for human consumption, but I am really concerned about the large-scale industrial fishing that engages in destructive practices like longlining and trawling.” – Sylvia Earle
History of World Wildlife Day
On December 20, 2013, the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) proclaimed March 3 as World Wildlife Day for the adoption of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. World Wildlife Day is created to remind us of the responsibilities to save our world and the life forms that we share with it. Wildlife has very high intrinsic value, and it contributes to the ecological, social, genetic, educational, scientific, recreational, cultural, and aesthetic aspects of sustainable development and human- well-being. Hence All Member States, International Organisations, the United Nations System, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and every individual are invited to observe and to get involved in the global celebration of wildlife. The local communities have their role in curbing the illegal wildlife trade.
From December 20th, 2013 new step was taken to spread awareness of the fragility of endangered species around the world. At its 68th session, the United Nations Declared that every World Wildlife Day is a day with a new purpose and idea to keep the people abreast of the changing nature of our world and the treasures that we stand to lose from the wildlife and plant kingdom if we don’t care.
“The quicker we human beings learn that saving open space and wildlife is critical to our welfare and quality of our life, maybe we will start thinking of doing something about it.” – Jim Fowler
Themes of World Wildlife Day
Every year World Wildlife Day is celebrated with particular themes. Hence the past themes of Wildlife Day are listed below
2024: “Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation.”
2023: “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation.”
2022: “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration.”
2021: “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet.”
2020: “Sustaining all life on earth.”
2019: “Life below water: for people and planet.”
2018: “Big cats: predators under threat.”
2017: “Listen to the young voices.”
2016: “The future of wildlife is in our hands”, with a sub-theme “The future of elephants is in our hands”.
2015: “It’s time to get serious about wildlife crime”.
Other Celebrations on March 3
March 3 is also celebrated as
- National Anthem Day
- What If Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day
- National Mulled Wine Day
- National Cold Cuts Day
- National Canadian Bacon Day
- National I Want You to be Happy Day
- International Irish Whiskey Day
- Namesake Day
How to Celebrate the Day
It is a day for students around the world to address the ongoing significant threats to wildlife animals including habitat change, illicit trafficking, and over-exploration. On this day, the lawmakers, governments, customs officials, enforcement officers, and park rangers of every region will improve their efforts to save the wildlife from extinction. Every citizen in the world has to protect the wildlife and their habitats. Raise awareness about the protection of wildlife on social media by using the hashtag #WorldWildlifeDay.
Thank you for reading the post. You can celebrate every day with Happydays365.org and Happy World Wildlife Day 2024.