About World Wildlife Day
March 3 is World Wildlife Day. It is a United Nations International day to celebrate all the world’s wild animals and plants and the contribution that they make to our lives and the health of the planet.
This date was chosen as it is the birthday of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signed in 1973. This World Wildlife Day is also a celebration of CITES as it turns 50. In recognition of the work CITES does and the collaborative work for conservation that is going on globally, the theme for World Wildlife Day this year is ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation‘…
UN World Wildlife Day 2023 – Virtual event
On 3 March 2023, the CITES Secretariat will collaborate with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to hold the first WWD event in Washington D.C., the birthplace of CITES. The National Geographic Society has graciously offered its Grosvenor Auditorium as the venue of WWD 2023. Jackson WILD and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have once again offered to organize the WWD Film showcase and the youth art competition, respectively, to showcase the power of visual arts that could bring people together to raise awareness and promote discussions among different parts of the world.
Theme
This year’s theme recognizes that CITES’s successes – indeed almost all successful conservation actions, depend upon cooperation. It is such an important and complex subject that no one government or organization, including the United Nations, can tackle the issue without collaboration and sharing of experience and expertise. So, the theme this year is ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’.
This year, the theme is “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation”. The idea of a partnership inevitably means different things to different people. Some will see the most impactful conservation partnerships as taking place at the international level between organizations, while others may see small groups living alongside nature as having the most beneficial partnership for wildlife conservation.
In order to capture as many different partnerships as possible, WWD 2023 will focus on partnerships at three levels: international; regional and national; and local.
‘Partnership stories’, i.e. successful case studies, will be identified for each of these three groupings to illustrate that work needs to be done at all levels in order to safeguard the future of species currently threatened with extinction, and to secure a healthier planet for all.
It will allow to celebrate all conservation efforts, from intergovernmental to local scale. Within this theme, the day wants to generate discussions and awareness on two sub-topics: business & finance; and marine life & oceans.
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) and Youth representatives will be specifically invited to contribute to the ‘partnership stories’, as two stakeholder groups that CITES has been working towards ensuring meaningful representation.
CITES@50
March 3rd 2023 will be a very special date, as it will also be marking the 50th anniversary of CITES. CITES has stood at the junction of trade and conservation, with Parties to the Convention working with the shared goal of ensuring sustainability of endangered species. CITES has sought to build partnerships and reconcile differences between the groups that are guided and governed by its regulations. At national and local levels, these partnerships have been essential in every country across the globe to focus on the conservation of species and ecosystems.
The theme ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’ will thus provide the opportunity to highlight the people who are making a difference as well as to celebrate the bridge that CITES has been for these partnerships to form, making a significant contribution to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation.
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