How to Celebrate the International Day for Biodiversity

Last Updated: February 18, 2021

The International Day for Biodiversity (IBD for short) is held every year on 22 May. Every year, people young and old from all around the world participate in celebrating this event to show their support for conserving the Earth's biodiversity. This article shows some ways that you can join in and celebrate this important occasion.

Steps

1
Learn more about biodiversity. Understanding the importance of biodiversity to your daily life, the whole functioning of your community, region and country and the benefits for the entire world is a key part of celebrating biodiversity. There are many ways that you can learn more about the value of biodiversity:
- Start with wikiHow's own biodiversity articles, such as Help Protect Biodiversity, Understand the Concept of Biodiversity and Learn About Biodiversity and Food Webs.
- Visit the Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity to learn more about the Convention, about biodiversity and further resources on biodiversity.
- Visit your local library or museum library to read books about nature, animals, plants, ecosystems etc. - all of these are pieces of the biodiversity jigsaw.
- Visit a local conservation area. It might be a zoo, a nature park, a reserve, a protected forest, a nature centre, an aquarium, a museum etc. There are many places that you can go to learn more and experience biodiversity firsthand.
2
Know the background to the IBD. The IBD first started when the Convention for Biological Diversity came into force on 29 December 1993. The United Nations proclaimed May 22 the International Day for Biological Diversity (IBD) in order to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. The change of date from December to May helped to ensure that country celebrations were not coinciding with numerous holiday season events held in December.^{[1]
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3
Check out the IBD theme for each year. Every year the IBD celebrations focus on a particular theme. You can find the theme for this year and for past years at the International Day for Biological Diversity - 22 May website.
4
Check out local biodiversity activities online. Many local groups participate in the IBD celebrations each year, from local community groups and municipalities to schools, companies and governments.
5
Participate in The Green Wave. If you're a student or a teacher, you can get your school involved in The Green Wave. This involves planting a tree and watering it at 10:00am local time to create a "green wave" across the world and recording the event for all to follow online.
6
Organise your own community IBD celebrations. If you are enthusiastic about organizing an event to celebrate IBD in your local community, there are many things that you can do to highlight biodiversity conservation issues, including:
- Tree photo competition - have members of the community submit photos of their favourite neighbourhood tree or stand of trees, along with a short explanation of why this tree matters to them. If you want to narrow the parameters of the competition and to highlight the importance of biodiversity, ask competitors to select only native trees, or trees that provide ecosystem benefits, such as food, animal shelter or shade.
- Hold a celebration of the work being done by local farmers to conserve biodiversity. Organise an event for local farmers to come and talk to the community about their biodiversity conservation efforts, from preserving heirloom crops to keeping stands of native bush and trees to help native animals and plants thrive amidst the agriculture. Provide awards to the farmers from community members to thank them for their time and efforts in conserving biodiversity.
- Hold a poster competition. At school, after-school care or in the local community, you might consider holding a competition for the best posters that describe the importance of biodiversity to your local area.
- Arrange for a group tour of local biodiversity. E-mail and drop off flyers (on recycled paper) members of your neighbourhood to alert them to this upcoming event and to invite them to come and learn more about the biodiversity in their local area. If it will be a long walk, ask them to bring their own paper bag lunch and to consider packing it with locally produced food.
- Hold a quiz night to raise funds for local biodiversity restoration projects. Choose an area of your local environment that is in need of restoration, such as a stand of local trees, a river area, a lake, an area that is home to a rare species and target it for restoration and conservation. Advertise the quiz night widely in your community and let people know the reason behind it. Sell tickets to the event to raise funds and ask for donations of environmentally considerate prizes. Create biodiversity related questions for the quiz night, such as questions about local wildlife, trees, plants, ecosystems etc. Serve food sourced locally for snacks or ask people to bring a plate of home cooked food.
- Hold a tree planting event. Ask your local parliament or legislative representatives to attend and to help source local trees for the event.