3rd March World Wildlife Day

World Wildlife Day

The UN World Wildlife Day is being celebrated on 3rdMarch every year since 2013, to raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.
In 2013, it was first proclaimed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution.
3rd March is chosen as World Wildlife Day because it was on this date that the CITES convention was signed in 1973.
CITES Secretariat, Geneva is the designated facilitator for the global observance of World Wildlife Day.

In Focus: World Wildlife Day 2019

Theme: ‘Life below water: for people and planet’
This is the first time that the World Wildlife Day has focused on ‘marine species’.
It is in line with SDG 14, 'Life below water'.

Marine Wildlife: A backgrounder

Marine Wildlife identified till date constitutes about 200,000 species with millions more awaiting to be discovered.
The market value of marine and coastal resources is estimated at US$3 trillion per year, about 5% of global GDP.
Globally, about 3 billion people are dependent on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods.
This is despite the fact that coastal zones make up just 4% of the earth’s total land area and 11% of the world’s oceans.

Significance of Marine wildlife