World Wildlife Day is celebrated in 2023 March 3 under the theme “Partnerships for wildlife conservation”, honoring the people who are making a difference, according to UN.
Partnerships operate on a large scale or involve a few children or a school. For some, it could be organizing a school sale to benefit a conservation group, for others it could be posting photographs online to raise awareness of endangered species. All of them are equally valid.
This upcoming year, the UN celebrates a special partnership: the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
This Convention is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. Today, it grants varying degrees of protection to more than 37,000 species of animals and plants.
Through the past 50 years, partnerships have been at the heart of CITES, and WWD will celebrate the bridge that CITES has been for these partnerships to form, making a significant contribution to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation.
In accordance with this convention, UN agencies, private sector organizations, philanthropies and non-governmental organizations must keep working for conservation, the sustainable use of wildlife and in the fight against illegal trade and the depletion of wildlife.