ICIMOD
The United Nations proclaimed May 22 the
International Day for Biological Diversity to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. As 2014 has been designated as the ‘International Year of Small Island Developing States’ by the UN General Assembly, the theme for this year’s IDB is ‘Island Biodiversity’.
At ICIMOD, we have been celebrating this important day each year with a number of activities. To start with it, shared below is a
Message from our Director General, Dr David Molden (PDF version) to mark this occasion.
We’ve also brought out a special feature story,
Connecting Terrestrial ‘Islands’ to Promote Biological Diversity, which highlights the importance of using the landscape approach to connect islands of biodiversity in mountain areas. We welcome interested organizations and media to publish the article and thus help us to disseminate it further.
It may also interest you to read an article,
Connecting 'islands' by our experts, Dr Janita Gurung, Biodiversity Conservation and Management Specialist, and Pratikshya Kandel, Biodiversity Research Associate, which has been published in today’s Republica in Nepal. In addition, an array of events ranging from national to regional levels are also being organized to celebrate this day. In Nepal, we are supporting the initiatives of the Government of Nepal, and a
talk on the biodiversity of Kailash Sacred Landscape is being organized at the Institute of Forestry in Pokhara, Nepal; in Pakistan the ICIMOD Country Office, in collaboration with IUCN Pakistan, is tying up with World Turtle Day 2014 to raise awareness on saving endangered sea turtles on coastal areas of Pakistan; and in India, Eco Concept, a local NGO based in Guwahati, Assam, has organized a
three-day community learning tour for students from different schools on understanding biodiversity which will culminate in sharing of their experiences with their peers today. You can read more about these activities at
www.icimod.org/idb2014. All the best in celebrating this important day!
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