The Greeks associated Zeus with the eagle , the Egyptians gave their god Anubis a jackal’s head, the Vikings saw Odin’s gaze in ravens, the Mayans feared the fury of the jaguar Balam, and the Catholics associate Saint Mark with the lion. . The relationship of the human being with the nature that surrounds him goes far beyond a shared space or a source of subsistence materials; it is mystical and almost magical . Earth is a set of places as diverse as they are necessary, which manage to find a delicate balance by putting them all together: fauna, flora and the environment .
On December 20, 2013, the UN General Assembly, through a resolution co-sponsored by the United Kingdom and Thailand, declared that on March 3 of each year, World Wildlife Day would be celebrated to commemorate the approval of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES for its acronym in English ) in 1973. It was the CITES secretariat itself, together with other United Nations agencies, that was in charge of promoting the celebration of this day.
As with the international days of the UN, they are dates in which it is intended to raise awareness in society of a reality that often goes unnoticed or that tends to be easily ignored, as well as looking for possible solutions that can be applied at all levels. and that they help to improve the situation that is denounced. In the case of World Wildlife Day, the main aspect to be highlighted is the importance of ecosystems and the planet’s animal and plant biodiversity .
Practices such as deforestation, the dumping of polluting waste, the uncontrolled consumption of animals or plants and the hunting of endangered species have caused a rapid deterioration of the environment in recent decades and have brought serious consequences for human beings that already they begin to be noticed in social, economic or environmental aspects .
World Wildlife Day has been an excellent opportunity to publicize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) program that refer to the care of ecosystems and the defense of biodiversity. Another aspect that is becoming more and more important is the pedagogical one, so the actions that seek to teach the younger generations ways to defend nature and maintain a sustainable and healthy relationship with our environment have multiplied.
