World Wildlife Day 2024; March 3rd.

FORUM: “Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation.'' World Wildlife Day 2024. For this occasion, we are exploring digital innovation and highlighting how digital conservation technologies and services can drive wildlife conservation, sustainable and legal wildlife trade and human-wildlife coexistence, now and for future generations in an increasingly connected world. We are in the midst of a global digital revolution that is breaking down barriers to people-centered digital governance and to equal opportunities for all to unleash the power of digital transformation. The ‘digital divide’ is slowly narrowing, with better connectivity and Internet access reaching 66 per cent of our global population. However, around 2.7 billion people of our global population are still not online. On average, only 36 % of the populations in the least developed countries and landlocked developing countries are online. Women and young people are more likely to experience gaps in Internet access and/or job-ready digital skills. Technological innovation has made research, communication, tracking, DNA analysis and many other aspects of wildlife conservation easier, more efficient and accurate. Yet, uneven access to these new tools, environmental pollution and unsustainable applications of certain technologies remain critical issues for achieving universal digital inclusion by 2030. How are you Connecting People And Planet for the WWD2024?; What Digital Innovation in wildlife conservation inspires you or sparks your curiosity?; What kind of Technology For Wildlife have you (or someone you know) using?. 

Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #TechForWildlife, #3March, #WorldWildlifeDay; #Partnershipsforconservation, #ConnectingPeopleAndPlanet, #DigitalInnovation, #WWD2024.

EVENTS: While WWD2024 will be celebrated on 3 March 2024, the high-level event will take place on 4 March 2024 at UNHQ in New York, NY, United States of America. This year, the CITES Secretariat has teamed up with the United Nations Development Programme, WILDLABS, Jackson Wild (host of the World Wildlife Day Showcase and the WILDLABS Awards 2024) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) (host of the World Wildlife Day Youth Art Contest). The World Wildlife Day 2024 represents a platform for inter-generational exchange and youth empowerment through art, presentations and conversations on the opportunities ahead for our shared sustainable future in digital wildlife conservation. WWD2024 offers a jumping off point for exploring what digital innovations are available now, what intersectional discrepancies we are facing and how we want our digital connectivity to evolve for all people and planet. Get the World Wildlife Day 2024 Agenda Programme and watch the livestream on United Nations WebTV. On and around March 3rd, many side-events, seminars, workshops and excursions will be held worldwide to celebrate the World Wildlife Day 2024. Explore the map of WWD2024 celebrations around the world.

Statement of the United Nations Secretary-General on World Wildlife Day 2024; March 3rd.

Human activities have devastated our wildlife. Human ingenuity can help to save it.

Pollution, climate chaos, habitat loss and exploitation of nature have pushed a million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction. This is horrifying in itself. It is also a direct threat to the health and livelihoods of billions of people around the world — particularly the most vulnerable.

As the theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day reminds us, digital technologies can help to turn things around. Already, satellites are helping to track animals under threat. And data is charting wildlife migration and land use, supporting efforts to protect them.

When used responsibly, sustainably and equitably, digital technologies have the potential to revolutionize conservation. But they are a tool in our arsenal, not a silver bullet. We still need concerted efforts by countries, companies, and individuals to help pull the world’s wildlife back from the brink and build a just, sustainable future.

At this year’s Summit of the Future, Members States will discuss our proposals to develop new metrics to complement gross domestic product (GDP). Activities like overfishing and forest clearance increase GDP while devastating nature. Complementary metrics can provide balance, by measuring the things that really matter to people and planet.

I also urge countries to take urgent action to drastically reduce emissions, adapt to climate extremes, prevent pollution and put the brakes on biodiversity loss, including recognizing the role Indigenous Peoples play in protecting biodiversity.

Developed countries must invest in biodiversity and climate action in developing countries. And all Governments must create new national climate plans that align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as well as national biodiversity strategies that implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We depend on nature. Let’s show that nature can depend on us — and act now to protect it.

Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General.

OTHER STATEMENTS: Read the other Statements and Remarks on behalf World Wildlife Day 2024.

CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: Share your digital innovations in wildlife conservation using this Social media kit which features official hashtags, post ideas, information about the theme and Get the World Wildlife Day 2024 Communication materials!

LIVESTREAM: World Wildlife Day should connect people with our natural world and inspire continued learning and action beyond the event. For WWD 2024, we hope to provide a jumping off point for exploring what digital innovations are available now, what discrepancies we are facing and how we want our digital connectivity to evolve for people and planet. The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), with partners such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Jackson Wild and others, will host the World Wildlife Day 2024 celebration