Endangered Species Day 2023: It is observed every year on the third Friday in May and this year it will fall on May 19. Check out this article for the history, celebration, significance, and more of the day.
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Endangered Species Day 2023: The day was created and founded by David Robinson and the Endangered Species Coalition in 2006 and since then has continued to be celebrated. It is observed annually on the third Friday in May. This year marking the 18th edition, National Endangered Species Day will be observed on May 19. On this day, wildlife refuges, zoos, aquariums, gardens, schools, libraries, museums, community groups, nonprofits, and individuals hold special programmes or events for people of all ages. People from across the world participate in these activities or others.The day spread awareness about the importance of protecting endangered species, and their habitats and taking actions necessary to protect them. Therefore, Endangered Species Day recognises the national conservation efforts to protect our nation’s endangered species and their habitats.
“Living wild species are like a library of books still unread. Our heedless destruction of them is akin to burning that library without ever having read its books.” – John Dingell
What are Endangered Species?
Since life began on Earth, several creatures due to changing physical and biological conditions of the environment have come and gone or extinct. As we know that it is the law of nature that extinctions will occur naturally and will continue to do so. But scientific evidence suggests that the current rate of species extinction is much higher as compared to the background rate of the past. This is what we have to think about or is a matter of concern. Isn’t it?Therefore, we can say that endangered species are the species that are at risk of extinction due to a sudden rapid decrease in their population or loss of their critical habitat. Species like plants or animals that were threatened with extinction could be called endangered species.
In the 1960s and 1970s concern over the well-being of animals with the environment and conservation came out. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was signed into law on December 28 to raise the importance of wildlife conservation and restoration efforts for all imperilled species. It said that Endangered Species Day was first created by U.S. Senate in 2006. At that time several efforts were made to save species and hundreds of species from extinction were saved like the bald eagle. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in the past two decades, the list of endangered species has more than doubled.
“Endangered species are our friends.” – Yao Ming
What qualifies a species as Endangered?
Different government and local organisations have their own criteria for deciding for the species are endangered or not. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the most comprehensive list of endangered species worldwide. The Red List of Threatened Species judges each species on five different standards.
According to IUCN, an endangered species is one that meets any one of the following criteria as given below:
- A 50-70% population decrease over 10 years.
- A total geographic area of less than 5,000 square kilometres or a local population is less than 500 square kilometres.
- A population size of fewer than 2,500 adults.
- A restricted population of 250 adults or a statistical prediction that it will go extinct within the next 20 years.
- IUCN’s Red List covers a wide range of what qualifies as an endangered species.
According to IUCN, more than 31,000 species are threatened with extinction. That is 27% of all assessed species.
