World Wildlife Day

Although its a day late I thought I would write a post about World Wildlife Day. On 20 December 2013, at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 3 March, the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. This year the theme was "Listen to the Young Voices," something that I believe we should be doing more.

Wildlife has a played a big part in my life so far. Whether it be birdwatching, having the privilege of seeing birds up close whilst bird ringing or just generally appreciating the wildlife we are lucky to have. Therefore I want to make sure that I make a difference in my lifetime by inspiring the next generation, raising awareness of why its so important we protect our wildlife and supporting as many causes related to wildlife as I can.

Swallow

'How can we make sure our wildlife is conserved for the next generation?'

Well in my opinion, as I have mentioned before, we need to introduce a natural history GCSE into secondary schools to highlight the importance of learning about wildlife. Also, even more importantly, we need to make nature education in primary schools compulsory. For example, teaching children common species of birds, bugs and mammals to inspire them to take up an interest in wildlife or even to just keep nature in mind throughout their lives. Also the government really need to start paying more attention to our declining wildlife and to climate change which is effecting the whole world. Isn't it selfish that they don't do anything to make sure that species such as the Hedgehog, Red Squirrel, Turtle Dove and Skylark, to name a few, are still here for many generations to enjoy?

Red Squirrel (taken at the British Wildlife Centre)
For me wildlife has made my life more enjoyable and has enabled me to meet and contact many people with the same interest as me. Social media, particularly Twitter, has played a big part in this. This is because due to having such an unusual interest it is hard to find anyone that shares your passion at school or around your local area. So now I can speak to people from all over the UK, all over the world in fact, to speak about the same thing we all love, wildlife. 

Adder

In conclusion, I would like to see the views of upcoming naturalists, scientists and ornithologists listened to as they can really make a difference. So please do 'Listen to the Young Voices.' You can see a short piece I wrote along with many other young naturalists on Thomas's Blog here: www.exploringwildlife.blogspot.co.uk

Great Spotted Woodpecker





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