World Wildlife Day 2021: History and significance, theme of the year

World Wildlife Day is observed annually on March 3 to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s flora and fauna.

The day is about raising awareness about wildlife and educating yourself and others about the diversity and importance of flora and fauna across the world. In other words, it’s the celebration of the beautiful biodiversity that exists on our planet.

On December 20, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 March as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness about animals and plants on our planet.

In its resolution, the United Nations General Assembly stressed the importance of flora and fauna and reaffirmed the intrinsic value and various contributions of wildlife.

The UN went on to declare that World Wildlife Day would be dedicated to keeping people aware and updated about the changing nature of the world and the flora and fauna that are constantly threatened by human activities.

The UNGA resolution also designated the CITES Secretariat as the facilitator for the global observance of World Wildlife Day.

This year’s theme for World Wildlife Day is “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”.

The theme is described on wildlifeday.org as: “As a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystem services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forested and forest-adjacent areas.”

The themes for previous years were – “Sustaining all life on earth” (2020), “Life below water: for people and planet” (2019), “Big cats – predators under threat” (2018), “Listen to the young voices” (2017)