On 3 March 2021, World Wildlife Day is celebrated. The date was created by the United Nations in 2013, with the goal of celebrating world fauna and flora, and warning of the dangers of trafficking in species of wildlife

This year, the date is celebrated under the theme “Forests and livelihoods: Sustaining people and planet”, as a way of stressing the central role of forests, forest species, and the importance of the ecosystem services in maintaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people throughout the world, and particularly indigenous communities and places with historic, social and economic ties with forest areas and areas adjacent to forests.

This is another call to reflection about how we can contribute to the preservation of forest resources.  How we can understand the forest ecosystems and the closest wild life species and the threats they face, and know more about the local communities which live in or near the forests, the interdependence of their livelihoods with the forests, and how their knowledge and experiences can illuminate the efforts to conserve forest species throughout the world, which can indeed make a difference to the continuity of these species.

Mozambique is one of the countries fighting against poaching and against uncontrolled bush fires, phenomena which threaten the extinction of some wild life species, such as the rhinoceros and the pangolin. It is in this framework of threats to species of fauna and flora that the Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity (BIOFUND), is strengthening the message that the future of wild life and its habitats depends on human behaviour!