Beauty and Diversity of Wild Fauna and Flora

This Day was proclaimed on December 20th, 2013 at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly (resolution A/RES/68/205) and is celebrated annually on March 3rd.

World Wildlife Day is aimed to draw humanity's attention to the diversity and beauty of wild fauna and flora. Such a Day appeared due to the understanding of the need to preserve biological diversity on the planet. Excessive use of fresh water, energy resources, mass deforestation, and other human activities have a devastating impact on the environment, flora and fauna, and gradually lead our planet to irreversible environmental, social, economic and other consequences.

The habitats and the forage reserves of animals and birds are reducing. Because of the poaching and irrational hunting, many unique species of wildlife are almost totally extincted. The world that surrounds us needs to be protected, so the concern about preserving the number of endangered species of fauna and flora, changing views on wildlife, abandoning consumer attitudes and misperceptions about the immensity of natural resources, are the most urgent tasks facing humanity in today's realities.

Each generation is responsible for the preservation of wildlife for descendants - such is the message of World Wildlife Day. The organization of this Day is an occasion to remind society once again of the need for concerted action in solving the problems of the conservation of endangered species and their biological diversity, both internationally and nationally. The theme of the Day of 2018 is "Big Cats: Predators under Threat".

This date was chosen as on March 3rd, 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Faunawas adopted. This convention is one of the largest agreements for the protection of wildlife. Its goal is to control poaching, international trade of endangered specimens, both animals and plants. Poaching and illegal trade in wildlife are the most important unresolved problem of our time. According to experts, the international turnover from this trade reaches 17 billion euros annually. There are approximately 5,800 species of animals and 30,000 plant species under the protection of CITES.

Today 183 states signed CITES. The Republic of Belarus has ratified the Convention in December 1994. In our country, 52 species of animals and 35 species of plants are covered by the CITES Convention and are listed in Annexes I and II to this Convention. The problem of the wildlife preservation takes an important place in the ecological politics of the Republic of Belarus where the following laws have been adopted and taken effect: ”About the environment protection”, ”About flora”, ”About fauna”, other normative legal documents called to provide a legal and economic basis to the preservation and a sustainable use of biological diversity.

More than 100 documents in Russian and English languages will be exposed at the exhibition: books, brochures, periodicals, booklets.

 The exposition includes the following topics:

• wild animals, rare and endangered species of animals;
  
• wild plants, rare and endangered plant species;
  
• flora and fauna protection;
  
• international legal documents on the protection of wildlife;
  
• Red Books;
  
• development and maintenance of especially protected natural areas (reserves, national parks, etc.)
  
• wildlife of Belarus;
  

The exhibition will be interesting to biologists, zoologists, ecologists, specialists in the field of forestry, nature management and environmental protection, scientists, students, graduate students, as well as all to everyone who is interested in problem of preservation of the wildlife and biological diversity in our planet.

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