ISLAMABAD: International wildlife day will be celebrated across the world to highlight the developing partnerships for conservation.
The day is celebrated every 3rd of March. The said date was selected on the occasion of the foundation anniversary of the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), ratified in 1973.
The Convention since its inception had focused on preventing illicit trade and conservation of wild life. It has sought to build partnerships and reconcile differences between the groups that are guided and governed by its regulations.
World Wildlife Day 2023 acknowledges the significant contribution CITES has made to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation and how this contribution has been enhanced by the bridge-building and partnership work done within the CITES framework.
It also recognized the efforts made by the CITES to partner and collaborate with other conventions, UN agencies and other organizations to achieve UN goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2020 Framework on Biodiversity.
The UN agencies, private sector, philanthropic organizations, and non-governmental organizations were mobilized, working on the subject to ensure the conservation, sustainable use of wildlife, and fight against illegal trade and the depletion of wildlife.
Pakistan is also a signatory to the CITES convention on flora and fauna. The Wildlife Department of various universities, colleges, schools, and non-governmental organizations along with public departments will hold awareness walks, symposiums, seminars, outdoor activities to create awareness among the masses on the importance of wildlife in human ecosystem.
The country, especially it’s federal capital and northern areas along with others is thriving with indigenous species of wild animals especially markhor, leopards, ibex, and deer that have become endangered in various parts of the world.
The country also hosts a thriving habitat of snow leopards which is an elusive wildcat that is very important to control the environment and wild habitat population in the glaciated mountain ecosystems.