World Wildlife Day

  Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) are widely used to sustain people's health and livelihoods, and have extensive use in supporting ecosystems and multiple industries. From habitat destruction , overharvesting and illegal trade , these valuable plant species face various threats , making their conservation a global priority.  Let's explore  How local experts contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of Medicinal ad Aromatic plants for human health, cultural heritage and livelihoods. With secretariats of key international organizations’ headquartered in Geneva, as well as local actors active in the protection and conservation of wildlife, consult the list of activities celebrating World Wildlife Day. World Wildlife Day 2026 | Geneva Celebrating Expertise in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage and Livelihoods 3 March 2026, 09:30 – 12:00 CET  International Envrionment House I World Wildlife Day 2026 United Nations Virtual Celebratio...

  On 20 December 2013 at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed  3 March   as United Nations World Wildlife Day . The date marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973. Since then, World Wildlife Day has grown into the leading annual international event dedicated to raising awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.

This 2026 the theme of the international day, “ Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage and Livelihoods ”, highlights the vital role of these plants in sustaining human health, cultural heritage, and local livelihoods, and showcases the growing pressures they face from habitat loss, overharvesting, and climate change. Join us! The observance of the World Wildlife Day 2026 , led by CITES , includes multiple outreach initiatives to protect our wildlife. Social Media Kit Online UN Event

  Este 2026 el tema del día internacional, " Plantas medicinales y aromáticas: conservar la salud, el patrimonio natural y los medios de subsistencia ", destaca el papel fundamental que estas desempeñan en el mantenimiento de la salud humana, el patrimonio cultural y los medios de vida locales, y las crecientes presiones a las que se enfrentan debido a la pérdida de hábitats, la sobreexplotación y el cambio climático. El Día Mundial de la Vida Silvestre 2026 , liderado por CITES , incluye múltiples iniciativas de difusión en pro de nuestra vida silvestre. Únete. Kit para redes (próximamente)

يسلط موضوع اليوم الدولي لعام 2026، "النباتات الطبية والعطرية: الحفاظ على الصحة والتراث وسبل العيش"، الضوء على الدور الحيوي لهذه النباتات في الحفاظ على صحة الإنسان والتراث الثقافي وسبل العيش المحلية، ويعرض الضغوط المتزايدة التي تواجهها من فقدان الموائل والإفراط في الحصاد وتغير المناخ. . اليوم العالمي للأحياء البرية,3 آذار/مارس

  2026年世界野生动植物日的主题是“ 药用与芳香植物：守护健康、遗产与生计 ”。该主题强调药用与芳香植物在维持人类健康、文化遗产和地方生计方面的重要作用，并揭示它们正因栖息地丧失、过度采伐和气候变化等威胁而承受日益加剧的压力。 加入我们！ 2026 年世界野生动植物日 纪念活动由 《濒危物种公约》 牵头举办，包括多项保护野生动植物的外联活动。 联合国举办的线上活动 （3月3 日）

В 2026 году тема Дня — « Лекарственные и ароматические растения: сохранение здоровья, наследия и средств к существованию » акцентирует внимание на значении этих растений для здоровья человека и культурных традиций, а также на их вкладе в устойчивое развитие местных сообществ, одновременно подчеркивая растущие угрозы, связанные с утратой мест обитания, чрезмерным сбором и изменением климата. Всемирный день дикой природы 2026 года, организованный под эгидой СИТЕС , включает в себя различные инициативы по защите дикой природы. Присоединяйтесь к нам! Веб-сайт Информационные материалы Мероприятия

  En 2026, le thème de la journée internationale, « Les plantes médicinales et aromatiques : Conserver la santé, l'héritage et les moyens d'existence » , met en évidence le rôle essentiel de ces plantes dans le maintien de la santé humaine, du patrimoine culturel et des moyens de subsistance locaux, et souligne les pressions croissantes auxquelles elles sont confrontées en raison de la perte de leur habitat, de la surexploitation et du changement climatique. Participez à la campagne ! La Journée mondiale de la vie sauvage 2026, organisée par la CITES, comprend plusieurs initiatives de sensibilisation visant à protéger notre faune sauvage. Contenu multimédia pour les réseaux sociaux (platefome Trello)

Training a few key individuals and empowering them to impart their knowledge can be a useful way of scaling up capacity building efforts. Participation at national and international medicinal events and trade fairs can also provide exposure to new ideas, and invaluable opportunities to exchange information about overcoming challenges and improving harvesting and processing techniques. Explore the FAO Diversification booklet on Health and Wealth from Medicinal Aromatic Plants .

  The conservation and sustainable trade of MAPs directly support the achievement of several targets of the  Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) ; namely:  Reducing threats to biodiversity Target 5 – Ensure Sustainable, Safe and Legal Harvesting and Trade of Wild Species Meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing Target 9 – Manage Wild Species Sustainably To Benefit People Target 10 – Enhance Biodiversity and Sustainability in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Forestry Target 13 – Increase the Sharing of Benefits From Genetic Resources, Digital Sequence Information and Traditional Knowledge

  MAPs face growing threats from habitat destruction, overharvesting, habitat loss, illegal trade and inconsistent quality control and illegal trade, making their conservation a global priority. Approximately 60,000 MAP species are harvested globally. Around 9% of plan t species used globally for medicinal and aromatic purposes are considered to be threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List, and 79% of medicinal and aromatic plant species have no conservation status. Additionally,  1,280 MAP species are listed under the  Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) , including more than 800 in Appendix II, reflecting mounting conservation concerns as global demand continues to rise.  Beyond these ecological and regulatory concerns, additional challenges arise in relation to the knowledge systems that sustain their use. Although Indigenous knowledge relating to medicinal and aromatic species is increasingly recognized, s...

  International trade in medicinal and aromatic plants has expanded rapidly over the past decades, with strong market growth in Asia, Europe and North America.  A snapshot of the wild plant trade, using a Customs code for medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), HS1211, shows that global trade has increased from  US$1.1 billion in 1999, to US$3 billion in 2015 , with China alone exporting  1.3 billion kg of botanical ingredients  in 2013. The growth of “natural” and “organic” consumer demand will only add to this pressure on wild collected species and their ecosystems. Compounding the issue, the (sometimes intentional) complexity of global wild plant trade chains makes it difficult to track volumes and species, threatening their survival in the wild, the wider wildlife that depend on them, and the livelihoods of local collectors. Between January and December 2017,  27% of all CITES-related seizures  reported by European Union Member States concerned medic...

  Medicinal Aromatic Plants  Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs)  play a valuable and important role in economic, social, cultural and ecological aspects of local communities the world over. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) can be defined as botanicals that provide people with medicines - to prevent disease, maintain health or cure ailments . In one form or another, they benefit virtually everyone on Earth through nutrition, toiletry, bodily care, incense and ritual healing. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) grow in almost all terrestrial and some aquatic ecosystems around the world. However increasing demand on plants and their habitats are threatening many species harvested from the wild . Cultivation of MAPs is thus a feasible diversification enterprise for many small-scale farmers as demand is high, trade opportunities are increasing and the income generating potential is good.  Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs)  are an integral component of many local trade su...

  MAPs are essential for both human health and ecological balance. Globally, an estimated  50,000–70,000  MAP species are harvested for their medicinal properties, forming the foundation of many healthcare systems and remaining vital to modern pharmaceuticals, as numerous active drug compounds are derived directly or indirectly from natural sources, despite advancements in synthetic chemistry. This is especially true  in developing countries, where the   World Health Organization (WHO)   reports that the majority of the population relies on traditional medicine for primary healthcare. Beyond their medicinal uses, MAP cultivation and wild harvesting sustain livelihoods around the world, with roughly  one in five people  depending on wild plants, algae and fungi for food and income. MAPs also contribute to various industries, including cosmetics, food, and luxury goods. The genetic resources derived from MAPs and traditional knowledge about MAPs are...

  Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs)  are botanical raw materials, also known as herbal drugs that are mostly used for aromatic, therapeutic and/or culinary purposes as components of cosmetics, medicinal products, health foods and other natural health products.  They  occur in nearly all terrestrial and even some aquatic ecosystems worldwide  and have been used for therapeutic purposes since ancient times. Historical records trace their use in traditional medicine back more than  5,000 years across Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Persian medical systems.  Much of the therapeutic use of medicinal plants today is rooted in  Indigenous knowledge systems  that have been carefully developed and passed down through generations. 

  Bunza, a village in Kalamba, Mpigi district, central Uganda, is an impoverished community with low earnings and poor access to healthcare services such as clinics. The people rely mainly on MAPs to meet their healthcare needs, especially for common minor complaints and to treat malaria. Some MAPs have become commercialized and are traded to Kampala, about 30 kilometres away, with the result that some have been over-harvested and are now locally endangered . An example is the small tree Psorospermum febrifugum , the trunk and root bark of which has gained a reputation for effectiveness in treating skin infections and for body nourishment.  Today’s market price in Kampala for dried Psorospermum bark is TSh5 000-10 000 (US$3-6) per kilo – providing an opportunity for collectors to make good money in the local context. Another example is Albizia coriaria, the trunk bark of which the active ingredient is found in many locally produced ointments used for skin infections....

Recognised threats to wild harvested MAP species The Medicinal Plant Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) predicts that at least 15 000 plant species used in herbal products could be threatened, many as a direct result of unsustainable collection practices . This pattern is likely to continue into the future as a result of the costs (time, research, technology, land, and other agricultural inputs) of domestication and cultivation of species . Moreover, cultivation is not necessarily the most beneficial production system for many plant species. For many collectors, economic benefits and conservation incentives are derived from  sustainable wild collection . Cultivation is unlikely to meet the demand for raw plant material, particularly for species that are slower growing, that are used in low volumes, that do not command sufficiently high and stable prices in the global market, or that are believed to be more potent in their wild form.  Source: Adapted fro...

  Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs)  can help small-scale farmers to strengthen their livelihoods directly through income generation from their trade as well as health care provision. With strengthened livelihoods comes greater access to a wider range of assets, and a capacity to build these into successful and sustainable activities, thereby reducing vulnerability to poverty in the longer term.  ■ Contribution to sustainable livelihoods.  For millennia, people have relied on nature – plants, insects, animals and fungi - for their healthcare. Communities, through time, have discovered innumerable plant species with various medicinal uses, and accumulated considerable ethno-botanical knowledge to enhance the quality of their lives. The origins of traditional herbal medicine predate all existing records, and this ancient knowledge, across different parts of the world, is enormous. An estimated 50 000 – 70 000 species of higher plants - 1 in 6 of all species - are us...

 Plants were the first medicines and remain an important tool for treating illness in most cultures. Today the commercial demand for these medicines exceeds supply in many cases, and the unregulated collection of these plants has the potential to endanger plant species’ survival in the wild. Given the expanding use of herbal remedies , coupled with the minimal practiced cultivation of medicinal herbs -it is reasonable to conclude that collection of plants is often unsustainable.  For example: • in Ecuador, Cascarilla cinchona pubescens - the original source of the potent antimalarial drug Quinine-may be threatened as a result of overexploitation; • in Eastern Europe, unsustainable collection of the wild herb Pheasant’s eye, Adonis vernalis - which is used to treat cardiac ailments - has led to dramatic declines throughout the plant’s range, and today the species is protected from collection in many countries; • Orchids are an important ingredient in traditional Chinese m...

Farmers in different states in India have a tradition of practicing mixed farming systems that include different herbal plants ; therefore, the cultivation of MAPs — especially applying organic and certified farming concepts—has considerable scope in different regions of India.  The advantages of cultivating MAPs include the ease of their incorporation into existing cropping systems as a result of their availability in large numbers of various species and the ability to choose plant types based on their suitability to be grown under different eco-physical conditions. However, this requires an improved input and service delivery system including marketing and post-harvest technologies.   Cultivation needs to be done on a business platform by a chain of small and micro-enterprise-based groups and individuals. In order to achieve economies of scale and the desired impact, it may be necessary to intensify production of specific crops within selected production areas and as clus...

  The bark of Prunus Africana - harvested exclusively from wild populations – was used in Europe to produce herbal remedies to treat prostrate problems. The product was traded in a variety of forms: unprocessed dry bark, bark extracts, brand-name capsules, a component hair tonic (used in Japan), and local trade in timber and furniture from the wood. Most of the processing of the bark occurs in the European Union. The annual export volume to Europe was about 3.3 tonnes in mid-1990s, and up to 72 percent of this raw product was harvested in Cameroon; 18 percent from Madagascar; 6 percent from Kenya, and 4 percent from the United Republic of Tanzania. In 1995, growing demand and unsustainable harvesting methods helped include this species in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in EndangeredSpecies (CITES) , and in 2006 CITES recommended that trade be banned until exporting countries could develop management plans, together with tree inventories, to ensure that the tr...

  ■ Essential elements of the activity:  Plants are natural resources from which medicinal products can be extracted, and are often freely available and accessible to those living in even the most marginal of conditions. They are therefore important in establishing or restoring and maintaining livelihoods. Medicinal plant activities are often combinable and compatible with other natural resource uses, including agriculture and forestry activities. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) are diverse, and vary in terms of where they grow, their properties, and their use. Some species are found only in intact ecosystems, such as primary forest, and do not lend themselves to domestication. Establishing plant nurseries with locally collected germplasm and encouraging where possible cultivation and domestication of plants by smallscale farmers should be encouraged.   Based on global figures, it is assumed that the number of MAP species currently in formal cultivation for commerci...