RSCN marks International Day for Biological Diversity

AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) joins the world in celebrating this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity, which falls annually on May 22, focusing on combining efforts to preserve the earth’s “delicate” biodiversity.

This year, the International Day for Biological Diversity was observed under the theme, “We are part of the solution”, which was chosen to be a continuation of the momentum established last year. “Our solutions are in nature”, which served as a reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges, the UN website said.

“Despite all our technological advances we are completely dependent on healthy and vibrant ecosystems for our water, food, medicine, clothes, fuel, shelter and energy,” according to the UN website.

“The protection of biodiversity is critical to sustaining life on earth,” Director General of the RSCN Yahya Khaled told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

This year’s theme, “We’re part of the solution”, transparently illustrates that humans, who have been the ones mainly affecting biodiversity whether by overgrazing, overfishing, forest clearcutting or through destroying natural habitats, “are also part of the solution”, he added.

Since 1997, the RSCN has started giving regional training in nature-related fields, he said, adding that the RSCN has implemented biodiversity protection programmes in a number of countries since 2017.

The RSCN and the Ministry of Environment act with the objective of protecting the Kingdom’s biodiversity whether within or out of the borders of RSCN’s reserves, or in Jordan’s environmentally significant places, through enacting laws and regulations governing this vital sector, according to an RSCN statement sent to The Jordan Times on Sunday.