March 3 is the World Wildlife Day.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is commemorating World Wildlife Day by naming elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County.
The Magical Kenya Tembo naming festival, according to KWS, is an innovative sustainability programme geared towards championing elephant conservation in Kenya.
There will also be tree-planting activity in line with the government directive on tree planting.
WWD day was set aside during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 20 December 2013.
The United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) says this is the day that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed in 1973.
The UN World Wildlife Day seeks to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.
This year’s theme is “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation” and it is focused on marine life and oceans as well as business and finance in conservation work.
In his message for World Wildlife Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that human activities are laying waste to once-thriving forests, jungles, farmland, oceans, rivers, seas and lakes.
He said one million species teeter on the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, fossil-fuel pollution and the worsening climate crisis.
“The good news is that we have the tools, the knowledge and the solutions to end this war on nature,” said the UN boss.
According to UNEP, around 70 per cent of the planet is covered by water hence the impact of marine conservation is important.
The UN further indicates that conservation efforts need to be funded and that this needs to be done in collaboration with businesses, an area that, in the past, has been seen as exploitative and unsustainable.
“Successful partnerships for conservation must find ways of including business if we are to reverse the loss in biodiversity,” says UNEP.
“People everywhere rely on wildlife and biodiversity-based resources to meet all our needs, from food, to fuel, medicines, housing, and clothing. Millions of people rely on nature as the source of their livelihoods and economic opportunities. But more than our needs, nature has proven to be essential for our mental health too,” said the UN agency.
The day will also be marking the 50th anniversary of CITES which has been at the core of trade and conservation.
