This is how World Wildlife Day was celebrated

Eight years ago, on December 20, 2013, the UN proclaimed March 3 as World Wildlife Day , since, on that same date, but in 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Species was carried out ( CITES ). This proclamation was made at the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is intended to " celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wildlife and plants ."

Since then, the CITES Secretariat, designated by the UN, has been the entity in charge of facilitating the fulfillment of this annual celebration that became the most important wildlife event around the world .

For this 2021, the theme was "Forests and livelihoods: livelihoods of people and the planet", in order to highlight "the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystem services in the sustenance of the life of hundreds of millions of people around the world, particularly indigenous and local communities with historical links to forested areas and adjacent to this fauna. "

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Taking into account the consequences that the COVID-19 pandemic has left, environmental meetings have focused on showing the importance of conserving life and the environment in order to overcome economic crises around the world. Above all, taking into account the need to look for responsible alternatives with ecosystems and that are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and with the Paris Agreements, in order to avoid solutions that, no matter how fast they seem, in the long run will be a bigger consequence for human life because of the scarcity of resources.

This year, the event was about raising awareness of the around 200/350 million people who live near or in wooded areas and who consequently depend on forests for their livelihoods in various aspects of their lives, such as housing, food and even medicine. The well-being of the inhabitants of these ecosystems, and the forests and forest life themselves, are threatened by all the environmental and social crises that we are experiencing around the world ; from climate change, through the enormous number of deforestation, to the alteration of forest ecosystems.

Likewise, the CITES Secretariat decided to hold the first virtual event in celebration of World Wildlife Day in the company of the United Nations Development Program, Jackson Wild and other associated organizations; giving a voice to those who are aware of the importance of wildlife and forests because, precisely, they live and are beneficiaries of these ecosystems. The event brought together different representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities around the world. Experts, member states of the United Nations, some representatives of private institutions and even people from civil society were also participants.