World Wildlife Day

March 3, 2022

In 2013, the United Nations proclaimed March 3 as World Wildlife Day. This year, under the theme "Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration", it is intended to alert to the critical state of conservation of some species of wild fauna and flora and to stimulate the search for solutions for their preservation.

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, more than 8400 species of wild fauna and flora are critically endangered and about 30,000 are considered threatened or vulnerable. In the Region, we have the example of the endemic Azorean bat (Nyctalus azoreum), classified as vulnerable.

In accordance with the theme of this ephemeris, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change works through the implementation of conservation and recovery actions for fauna and flora and natural habitat, as well as the verification of the functions of administrative authority within the scope of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. In addition, it also operates in the implementation of a regional strategy for the control of invasive alien species, as well as in the implementation of programs and appropriate measures for the control and eradication of species of fauna and flora that have become invasive or that carry a known ecological risk.