Delhi Zoo celebrates World Wildlife Day with National Museum of Natural History
The National Zoological Park in New Delhi (Delhi Zoo) celebrated World Wildlife Day on 3rd March 2023 in collaboration with National Museum of Natural History. To mark the occasion and highlight its importance, Additional Director General (Wildlife) Bivansh Ranjan informed everyone that World Wildlife Day underlies the awareness of the threats that wild flora and fauna face in their daily lives.
He further added that the theme of World Wildlife Day for this year 2023 is Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation. It is therefore important to promote and celebrate all conservation efforts, from intergovernmental to local scale. The theme also provides the opportunity to highlight people who are working in the conservation sector at all levels and are making a difference on the ground.
Treaties like Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) also need to be remembered which help form the partnerships, making a significant contribution to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation. This year World Wildlife Day falls on the fiftieth anniversary of CITES.
Diverse sessions were conducted at National Zoological Park where discussions were largely based on wildlife crime, public participation, role of zoo in conservation and mission LiFE of the Government of India. The awareness session was followed by a Zoo walk and logo making competition.
The decision to celebrate 3 March as the World Wildlife Day was taken during the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2013. 3 March was chosen as the World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild fauna and flora because it is the date of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973. CITES plays an important role in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the survival of species.
The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in collaboration with other relevant United Nations organizations, facilitates the implementation of World Wildlife Day. With 183 Member States, CITES remains continues to be world’s most powerful tools for biodiversity conservation through the regulation of trade in wild fauna and flora.
