In a sarcastic cartoon the social media portrait the focus of the current crisis by quoting a duck saying, “When I was young, I feared the dark, now I fear the light” clearly referring to the shocking increase in electricity bills by 66% with immediate effect! This and subtle moves to postpone the Local Council elections have created controversy, confusion and contradictions within contradictions as President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) struggle to pull Sri Lanka out of its worst socio-economic crisis since independence in 1948. Amidst charges, little or nothing is being done to check corruption. A top economist said this week that some political leaders had robbed billions of dollars of public funds and hidden the plundered money in secret bank accounts overseas, perhaps under a name of a close relative. 

 

In such a crisis within crisis, the leaders and the people have little time to focus on other vital; if not life-or-death issues such as climate change and wildlife conservation. On March 3, the United Nations marks World Wildlife Day outlining the incalculable value of wildlife. Most Sri Lankans are unaware of this while some selfish or self-centred people are not concerned about it though they need to know that when it hits them it will be like last week’s Turkey and Syria. 

 

  In a statement, the UN says that in developed and developing nations, billions of people benefit daily from the use of wild species for food, energy, materials, medicine, recreation, inspiration and many other vital contributions to human well-being. The accelerating global biodiversity crisis, with a million species of plants and animals facing extinction, threatens these contributions to people.

 

According to the UN World Wildlife Day (WWD) 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. These have wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts.

Given these various negative effects, Sustainable Development Goal 15 focuses on halting biodiversity loss.

Outlining the Fifty years of promoting partnerships in favour of wildlife conservation the UN says World Wildlife Day this year will be celebrated under the theme “Partnerships for wildlife conservation”, honouring the people who are making a difference. Partnerships operate on a large scale or involve a few children or a school. For some, it could be organizing a school sale to benefit a conservation group, for others it could be posting photographs online to raise awareness of endangered species. All of them are equally valid.

 

This upcoming year, the UN celebrates a special partnership: the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. Today, it grants varying degrees of protection to more than 37,000 species of animals and plants.

 

The UN says that through the past 50 years, partnerships have been at the heart of CITES, and World Wildlife Day will celebrate the bridge that CITES has been for these partnerships to form, making a significant contribution to sustainability, wildlife and biodiversity conservation.

 

In accordance with this convention, UN agencies, private sector organizations, philanthropies and non-governmental organizations must keep working for conservation, the sustainable use of wildlife and in the fight against illegal trade and the depletion of wildlife. Sustaining existing partnerships and building new ones is critical for the future of life on earth. We need to change our relationship with nature and we need to work together.

 

About 50,000 Wild Species Meet Needs of Billions Worldwide. 1 in 5 people around the world rely on wild species for income and food, while 2.4 billion people depend on wood fuel for cooking. It seems surprising, but cacti, seaweeds, giraffes, parrots and oak trees are groups of species endangered. Currently there are one million species under threat.