Wildlife Week is annually celebrated across India between 2nd to 8th October with an aim to protect and preserve the flora and fauna of India. The first Wildlife Week was observed in 1957. The Wildlife Week 2021 is celebrated from 2nd October to 8th October 2021. Wildlife Week 2021 marks the 67th Wildlife Week which is celebrated under the theme Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet
History of Wildlife Week:
The Indian Board of Wildlife was constituted and the idea of Wildlife Week was conceptualised in 1952 to raise the awareness about the long term goals of protecting the wildlife of India. Initially, in 1955 the Wildlife day was celebrated which was later upgraded as the Wildlife Week in 1957.
Wildlife Week 2021: Theme
World Wildlife Day will be celebrated in 2021 under the theme “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”, as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forested and forest-adjacent areas. This aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 13 and 15, and their wide-ranging commitments on alleviating poverty, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and on conserving life land.
Between 200 and 350 million people live within or adjacent to forested areas around the world, relying on the various ecosystem services provided by forest and forest species for their livelihoods and to cover their most basic needs, including food, shelter, energy and medicines.
Roughly 28% of the world’s land surface is currently managed by indigenous peoples, including some of the most ecologically intact forests on the planet. These spaces are not only central to their economic and personal well-being, but also to their cultural identities.
Forests, forest species and the livelihoods that depend on them currently find themselves at the crossroads of the multiple planetary crises we currently face, from climate change, to biodiversity loss and the health, social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This day will celebrate forest-based livelihoods and seek to promote forest and forest wildlife management practices that accommodate both human well-being and the long-term conservation of forests and promote the value of traditional practices that contribute to establishing a more sustainable relationship with these crucial natural systems.
Get involved
Share what you’ve learned with your friends and family.
Spread the word, especially to children and youth. They are the future leaders of wildlife conservation and they deserve a future where we humans live in harmony with wildlife that share the planet with us. Here are some outreach materials.
The incalculable value of wildlife
The animals and plants that live in the wild have an intrinsic value and contribute to the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic aspects of human well-being and to sustainable development.
World Wildlife Day is an opportunity to celebrate the many beautiful and varied forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits that their conservation provides to people. At the same time, the Day reminds us of the urgent need to step up the fight against wildlife crime and human-induced reduction of species, which have wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts. Given these various negative effects, Sustainable Development Goal 15 focuses on halting biodiversity loss.
World Wildlife Day 2021 significance
A symbiotic relationship exists between the forest, forest-dwelling wildlife species, ecosystem services and people, especially the indigenous people who currently manage around 28 percent of the forest land, making the goal of World Wildlife Day relevant and significant.
World Wildlife Day 2021: How to celebrate
The UN plans to introduce forest wildlife management models and practices on World Wildlife Day 2021. Celebrating the livelihoods that are based in forest, the UN aims to promote practices that can help in sustainable development, including traditional practices and knowledge.
Those who wish to celebrate World Wildlife Day 2021 can visit the website of the United Nations and participate in different activities on this day.
The website has posters in different languages and those interested in celebrating can also download the ‘social media kit’ for World Wildlife Day 2021.
World Wildlife Day 2021 quotes
Here are some of the quotes that you can share on the occasion of World Wildlife Day 2021:
- “The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.” – Jim Fowler
- “It seems everything in nature that has beauty, also has a price. Let the value of our planet’s wildlife be to nature and nature alone.” – Paul Oxton
- “If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.” – Steve Irwin
