World Wildlife Day

World Wildlife Day

On World Wildlife Day, 3 March, people all around the world hold events to celebrate the natural world and to raise awareness of the importance of protecting wildlife. Read the article to find out more.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.

Every year, people all over the world hold all kinds of events to celebrate World Wildlife Day. Their aim is to raise awareness of the beauty and the importance of our natural world and to look for ways to protect and conserve it.

How it first started

In December 2013, 40 years after it had signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the United Nations General Assembly decided to create a day to raise awareness of the world's wild animals and plants and the importance of protecting them. They decided to call it World Wildlife Day and chose 3 March as the date to celebrate it.

Why is it so important? 

Earth is home to many, many different species of plants and animals, more than we can possibly count. It is this rich diversity, and the delicate balance between all the different forms of life, that makes life possible on our planet. We depend on all the elements of the biosphere for all our basic needs: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the energy and materials we use to make the things we need to live our lives. Each and every species is equally important. One of the aims of World Wildlife Day is to raise awareness of these facts. 

What are the problems facing wildlife today? 

Sadly, many human activities such as mining, farming and construction are constantly putting wildlife in danger. We are cutting down too many trees, clearing too much ground and building so many roads that we are destroying the natural habitats of millions of species and putting the world's biodiversity at risk. Nearly a quarter of all species are at risk of becoming extinct in the next 50 years, and their disappearance is putting us, humans, in danger as well.

What are the solutions? 

We need to live more sustainable lives and to learn to respect nature and defend its diversity. We need to push our governments to conserve and protect the natural habitats of all the species that are in danger of becoming extinct. We all need to work together to protect our planet – and ourselves.

What can you do to help on World Wildlife Day? 

You can join local events and find out more about wildlife in your local area. You can donate time or money to organisations that are protecting wildlife locally or internationally. You can sign petitions and write to your government. You can share films, photos and articles with friends and your family. Post them on your social media channel and spread the message wherever you can. You can use the hashtags #WorldWildlifeDay and #DoOneThingToday to join in with the global conversation. Whatever you do, you won't be alone. Millions of people all around the world will be joining the celebrations and fighting for a better future for our planet. 

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Discussion

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Submitted by Saint'sMercy on Fri, 10/03/2023 - 06:03

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I live in a developing country, people are hungry for the development works and often people without the consultation of experts began the 'development works' like making graveled road, building tea house randomly in forest etc.. These kind of actions have lead to fragmentation of habitat, deforestation and pollution. If it were up-to me, I would prioritize to educate people about the importance of those wildlife that they were unknowingly putting at risk and urge them to first plan with proper consultation of government and experts and only then execute the development projects.

i think we should let the wildlife day as special day in our live, and the more importantly that we should live every single day such as it world wildlife day at least in order to live safely ,
in fact when we respect and take care of nature that mean we conserve our lives so should be careful

Submitted by Thant Zin Phyo on Fri, 24/02/2023 - 10:20

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We need to take care our environment also when we take care the wildlife.
Because any species cannot live in bad environment for them. For example - fish species, we need to take care the water pollution matter. So, we need to provide the awareness of how to keep the clean water for the environment. For the bird's species, we need to control or should have awareness of cutting tree and other species as well we need control by law enforcement. If every people had awareness our planet will be better place not only for the wildlife but also our people.

Submitted by iraul on Wed, 22/02/2023 - 22:34

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I saw birds die on the road. we may need to take care of them if we see birds hurt, and avoid the birds being hit by cars.

Submitted by meknini on Wed, 03/08/2022 - 04:53

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Poaching and illegal trades are unsurprisingly two very common issues facing wildlife in developing and under-developed nations. Unlike rich developed nations which pose threats on exotic wildlife for hobbies and pets, the less fortunate hunt them for monetary reasons. They become suppliers to the more affluent who might have craved these wildlife for daily consumption like to make exotic dishes or as traditional medicine that is believed could cure ailments that modern medicine couldn't. These animals that could fetch exorbitantly high prices in the black market are lures to those who are looking for easy monetary gains. Thus, if these activities are not halted, it's most likely that there'll be not much left in the wild.

Submitted by jyoti Chaudhary on Fri, 29/04/2022 - 12:56

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What are the main problems facing wildlife in your part of the world? What can we do to help?
I'm from India and in my country, there are fewer trees and wild animals. there is a lot of pollution here and hunters cut many trees the problem is global warming and we can protect it with the help of growing many trees and less use of private cars.

Submitted by PARIMALA MADIAZHAKAN on Tue, 01/03/2022 - 03:17

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In my country, the main problem facing wildlife in our part of the world is hunting. Some wildlife such as animals and plants are hunting for human benefit. Even though, the government has strict laws against hunting however there are some parties taking illegal means of hunting.

Submitted by Thinthinmyoe on Thu, 24/06/2021 - 08:09

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In our country,we are facing many problems of wildwife such as mining and farming.

Submitted by Barbara_Sz on Mon, 29/03/2021 - 14:55

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Where I'm living in South Africa, one the biggest problem is poaching. So many species are in danger because of the unnecessary hunting. Other problem what I see is the water pollution.
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Submitted by danisep on Tue, 16/02/2021 - 18:33

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I think that here in Latin America there are many countries rich in nature and species there are many fauna and flora, we have the Amazon, paramos among other stuff. I think that due to the less development like economy industrie, the problem is that we are looking for a way to be a developed country doing the same that the already developed countries are leaving, like stop exploiting the natural resources, rather using renewable energy and changing its dependence of oil.