This March 3 we celebrate World Wildlife Day, a date proclaimed on December 20, 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly with the aim of raising awareness about the value of wild flora and fauna of all ecosystems on the planet. The event commemorates the anniversary of the approval in 1973 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), one of the most important treaties on the protection of nature.

This year, under the slogan “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration”, it seeks to raise awareness of the current situation of multiple species of both flora and fauna, species on which the subsistence of a multitude of habitats and ecosystems depends. According to the UN, nearly 30,000 species are currently in a vulnerable state and more than 8,400 are critically endangered.

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses, among other aspects, that the increase in temperatures has increasingly irreversible effects, which translate into an increase in the risk of droughts and water scarcity, among other phenomena. That means ecosystems are facing dramatic conditions not seen in 10,000 years, the report says. Spain, in particular, would be one of the countries that would be in a more vulnerable situation, especially with regard to the southeast of the peninsula, so Mediterranean biodiversity would suffer significant damage.

The generalized rise in temperatures alters the synchronization of natural processes, producing imbalances in the biological cycles of animals and plants. This results in phenomena such as untimely blooms or bird migrations at unusual periods.

As a result, one million species of animals and plants, out of the eight million already known, could disappear in the coming years if urgent action is not taken, according to the latest UN study on the subject, Nature’s Dangerous Decline “Unprecedented”; Species Extinction Rates “Accelerating”, from 2019. The average number of native species in large ecosystems has declined by about 20 percent since the beginning of the 20th century. More than 40 percent of amphibians, nearly 33 percent of reef-building corals, and more than a third of marine mammals are threatened. As for insects, it is estimated that around 10% are also under threat, while at least 680 species of vertebrates in general became extinct from the 16th century onwards, the study reports. As a result, ecosystems have been badly damaged. Thus, 75% of terrestrial ecosystems and 66% of marine ecosystems are already seriously altered, according to the United Nations.

Throughout our history, the Biodiversity Foundation has contributed to the protection and conservation of wildlife through different projects and initiatives. In addition, the Foundation has recently begun to work on the conservation of wild species of fauna and flora threatened by illegal trade included in the CITES agreement, through one of the calls for aid framed in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP). This call seeks to ensure that trade in the species does not harm their conservation and long-term survival, as well as to consolidate and improve the network of CITES rescue centres.

The projects, which will begin in the coming weeks, will have a maximum duration from the time of granting until December 31, 2025 and their objective will be to strengthen the response for the rescue and reception of live specimens of the species included in the CITES convention, with four lines of action: rescue and reception of specimens of protected species, rehabilitation and reintroduction into their habitat, updating of the inventory of deposited specimens and social awareness on trafficking in protected species.