14 DAY TRIAL // Last year, on December 20, members of the United Nations General Assembly sat down for a chat and decided that the world was in dire need of yet another celebration.
Looking to solve this problem, they found themselves declaring that each year's March 3 was from that moment on to be globally recognized as World Wildlife Day, and honored as such.
Green group the World Wildlife Fund explains that, whereas its upcoming Earth Hour is intended to raise awareness about the need to promote sustainability, World Wildlife Day is all about plants and animals.
“The United Nations General Assembly set aside March 3 to raise awareness of the intrinsic value of wildlife and its contributions to sustainable development and human well-being,” the organization writes on its website.
“World Wildlife Day is an opportunity for the international community to celebrate the globe's wild plant and animal life while redoubling efforts to protect them,” it adds.
In case anyone was wondering, the United Nations General Assembly decided to have March 3 declared the World Wildlife Day not because its members all thought this date had a certain ring to it.
On the contrary, March 3 was chosen due to the fact that it was on this date when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, for short) was signed back in 1973.
This international treaty is intended to ensure that global trading activities do not in any way threaten the survival of plant and animal species in the wild, and currently encompasses 180 governments that have all agreed to abide by its requirements.
To honor this new celebration, the World Wildlife Fund stresses that, although the race to save dozen of plant and animal species from going extinct sometime in the not-so-distant future is still on, considerable progress has been made over the past years.
Thus, several countries have destroyed their ivory stockpile, Nepal has managed to altogether eliminate poaching within its borders, and high officials worldwide have taken steps towards fighting wildlife crime through harsher sanctions and renewed commitments.
Still, the World Wildlife Fund says that there is a lot of work left to be done until poaching and illegal trading activities involving either live animals or animal body parts are put an end to.
“While progress has been achieved, illegal wildlife trade continues to pose a grave threat to our natural world. In South Africa alone, over 1,000 rhinos were poached in 2013,” the organization says.
“More than a statistic, it’s a somber reminder that wildlife crime is real, that it interrupts economic opportunities, and that it poses a threat to security and stability,” it goes on to argue.