The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has announced the theme of the UN World Wildlife Day 2020. The Day will convene under the theme, “Sustaining all life on Earth,” to help place biodiversity at the forefront of the sustainable development agenda and mark 2020 as the “biodiversity super year,” during which the international community will adopt a new global biodiversity framework under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The theme of World Wildlife Day 2020 will encompass all wild animal and plant species as a component of biodiversity as well as the livelihoods of people, highlighting the importance of the sustainable use of natural resources to achieving the SDGs, especially SDGs 14 (life below water), 15 (life on land), 1 (no poverty), and 12 (sustainable consumption and production patterns).

The CITES Secretariat, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and other UN system organizations, Member States, biodiversity-related conventions and civil society, are to organize a series of global and national events and social media activities around World Wildlife Day 2020, including a high-level event at the UN Headquarters in New York, US on 3 March 2020, a film festival and international youth art competition.

The film showcase will highlight wildlife as an important component of biological diversity and show how its conservation and sustainable use will help reduce the risk of unprecedented extinctions from over-exploitation. The call for entry will close on 4 January 2020 and finalists will be announced in early February 2020. Winners will be presented at the high-level event on the Day and around the world and at various biodiversity-related events.

World Wildlife Day convenes annually on 3 March. [CITES Press Release] [UNDP Press Release] [CBD Press Release]