Biodiversity is essential for sustaining the balance of the planet. (Representative image Shutterstock)
The theme, for this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity is Building a Shared Future For All Life
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 2022: Observed on May 22, the International Day for Biological Diversity’s marked as a day for creating awareness about biodiversity issues engulfing the world today. Biodiversity is essential for sustaining the balance of the planet. It is the cornerstone of ecosystem services, which are completely tied to human well-being.
Since this world is a mix of a wide range of animals, plants, fungi, and even microbes like bacteria. Each of these species and organisms works together in ecosystems to preserve balance and support life, much like a complex web. Each one is dependent on the other for their existence.
International Day for Biological Diversity: History
The United Nations General Assembly adopted May 22 as Internation Day for Biological Diversity in December 2000, to mark the adoption of the Convention at the Rio Eart Summit on May 22, 1992.
International Day for Biological Diversity: Theme
The theme, for this year, is Building a Shared Future For All Life. The theme supports the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be adopted at the upcoming Biodiversity Conference. The theme underpins the importance of biodiversity in handling several sustainable development challenges. Biodiversity is the foundation on which nature-based solutions to climate, health issues, food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods, can be billed upon.
International Day for Biological Diversity: Quotes
- “I can’t imagine anything more important than air, water, soil, energy and biodiversity. These are the things that keep us alive.” – David Suzuki.
- “We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.” – EO Wilson.
- “Biodiversity can’t be maintained by protecting a few species in a zoo, or by preserving greenbelts or national parks. To function properly, nature needs more room than that. It can maintain itself, however, without the human expense, without zookeepers, park rangers, foresters or gene banks. All it needs is to be left alone.” – Donella Meadows.
- “The passenger pigeon, the golden toad, the Caspian tiger: they are all gone, and other species hang by a thread. Our actions are not merely driving other species to extinction: we threaten our own survival, too, by destabilising ecosystems and destroying biodiversity.” Owen Jones
- “o many people, ‘biodiversity’ is almost synonymous with the word ‘nature,’ and ‘nature’ brings to mind steamy forests and the big creatures that dwell there. Fair enough. But biodiversity is much more than that, for it encompasses not only the diversity of species but also the diversity within species.” Cary Fowler.
