Dr. Chloe Wilde Blog Post 3/3/2022
On December 20, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed March 3rd as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. World Wildlife Day has now become the most important global annual event dedicated to wildlife.
This year, World Wildlife Day will be celebrated under the theme “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration”. The celebrations will seek to draw attention to the conservation status of some of the most critically endangered species of plants and animals, and to drive discussions towards imagining and implementing solutions to conserve and protect them.
According to data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, over 8,400 species of wild plants and animals are critically endangered, while close to 30,000 more are thought to be endangered or vulnerable. Based on these estimates, it is suggested that over a million species are currently threatened with extinction. People everywhere rely on wildlife resources to meet many of our needs, from food, fuel, medicines, housing, clothing and more.
In 2022, the goal of World Wildlife Day is to drive the debate towards the vital need to reverse the fate of the most critically endangered species, to support the restoration of their habitats and ecosystems and to promote their sustainable use by humanity.