The World Environment Day which has been observed since 1973 to create global awareness is being celebrated this year with the theme “illegal trade in wildlife” to generate awareness against mindless killing of wildlife and the illegal trade of the body parts.
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Different governmental and non-governmental organizations will organize special functions and seminars to highlight the importance of the day.
Led by the United Nations, WED is one of the biggest global tools used to advocate for environmental protection and to call for political action to safeguard the natural world. He said due to joint efforts of wildlife wing, CID and Crime Branch illegal trade in wildlife has been checked to a great extent.
Environment minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said here Sunday that it is essential to educate the public about economical, social and environmental implications of illegal wildlife trade, according to a statement released by state-run news agency WAM.
Stating that the world is dealing with unprecedented spike in illegal trade, threatening to overturn decades of conservation gains, Patnaik said “we share the earth with millions of different species of plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms”.
The host country for the Wednesday 2016 is Angola. Wildlife crime endangers iconic species including elephants, rhinos, tigers, gorillas and sea turtles along with a number of species of flowers and timbers that are also considered as wildlife.
Angola is this year’s host country for World Environment Day, and Steiner announced that the West African country is making strong commitments to combat wildlife crime by shutting down its domestic ivory trade and taking action to stop smuggling over its borders.
There was also a “wildlife pledge” taken by the participants that they will say “no” to buying illegal wildlife products in order to support efforts to curb poaching and illegal wildlife trade.
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“The United Nations and its many partners have resolved to tackle this illicit trade”, said Ban, “including by setting clear targets to put an end to poaching in the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted a year ago by all 193 Member States”.
