Manatee Appreciation Day 2020

Today is Manatee Appreciation Day – an opportunity to celebrate these incredible and unique creatures. Manatees fall into their own category of lovably funny-looking, docile and silly sea mammals. Don’t let their looks fool you, though -- manatees are also shockingly intelligent creatures!

These gentle giants are often spotted in coastal or river areas where there’s lots of seagrass or vegetation to enjoy. They migrate regularly depending upon the weather. 

First listed to the Endangered Species Act in 1967, their numbers have been steadily increasing. Manatee Appreciation Day is great reminder that manatees and their habitat need our support. 

The most significant challenge manatees face today is the loss of habitat

Some Manatee Facts:

• They are also called sea cows.
• Manatees are related to the elephant.
• Due to their immense size, (some weigh up to 1,200 pounds) they graze up to 8 hours a day.
• Manatees continually replace their teeth. A new set is always growing behind the current set of teeth. 
• Manatees can live up 60 years.
• Their lungs are two-thirds the length of their bodies.
• They can only breath through their nose. Their mouths are for grazing on their primary food source – sea grass. 

Report on World Wetlands Day 2020 activities

The "Improving Forest and Protected Area Management in Trinidad and Tobago" project, through its Caroni Swamp Subcommittee hosted two activities at the Visitor Centre of the well-known wetland in recognition of this year's World Wetlands Day observance. 

These activities, which encouraged the participation of primary school students and teachers, as well as a group of artists and photographers, also piloted novel on-site environmental education approaches.

A report on these activities is available at this link.

World Frog Day 2020 

World Frog Day is celebrated by many throughout the globe. The day is observed to raise awareness about frogs: amphibians found on land and water both. They are predators and play a crucial role in maintaining the environment during its lifetime. The World Frog Day has been celebrated since the year 2009. Scientists aver that in the recent years, frog species are under threat. Extinction is looming large over their populations due to many reasons such as deforestation.

Poisonous frog- Mannophryne trinitatis

The World Frog Day is an awareness day to save these creatures from extinction and give afford them a safe environment to thrive and survive. It has been perceived as well as synchronized by several organizations across the globe. The World Frog Day is the biggest and most significant day of amphibian education as well as conservation action across the world. On this World Frog Day, there is a need to encourage appreciation as well as celebration of these amphibians by people across the world and from all walks of life.

BUFONIDAE (Toads)- Rhinella marina

Very few people among the public are aware that frogs are disappearing. In fact, efforts aimed at amphibian conservation won’t be successful if the public is uninformed. The goal must be to make the crisis of amphibian extinction, particularly the frogs, common knowledge. The World Frog Day is the best that we can do to make this a reality! The World Frog Day can help educate communities about the importance as well as significance of amphibians.

In Trinidad and Tobago amphibians are only represented by the order Anura (frogs and toads). There are 35 species from 12 families currently recorded here. Of these several are endemic and some have quite restricted distributions. The most commonly encountered anuran is the cane toad or crapaud and one of the rarest is the endangered Golden Tree Frog only found on the highest mountains in the Northern Range.

Trinidad and Tobago's National Biodiversity website provides a detailed listing of frogs present in our islands. For more information, the website can be accessed using the following link- http://www.biodiversity.gov.tt/home/trinidad-a-tobago-biodiversity/fauna-checklist/vertebrates/amphibians.html

WORLD WILDLIFE DAY 2020

MARCH 3, 2020

The incalculable value of wildlife

The animals and plants that live in the wild have an intrinsic value and contribute to the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic aspects of human well-being and to sustainable development.

World Wildlife Day is an opportunity to celebrate the many beautiful and varied forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits that their conservation provides to people. At the same time, the Day reminds us of the urgent need to step up the fight against wildlife crime and human-induced reduction of species, which have wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts. Given these various negative effects, Sustainable Development Goal 15 focuses on halting biodiversity loss.

Sustaining all life on Earth

The theme of World Wildlife Day 2020, “Sustaining all life on Earth”, encompasses all wild animal and plant species as a component of biodiversity, as well as the livelihoods of people, especially those who live closest to the nature. This aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 14 and 15, and their wide-ranging commitments on alleviating poverty, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and on conserving life both on land and below water to halt biodiversity loss.

Earth is home to countless species of fauna and flora – too many to even attempt counting. Historically, we have depended on the constant interplay and inter linkages between all elements of the biosphere for all our needs: the air we breathe, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the materials we need for all purposes. However, unsustainable human activities and over exploitation of the species and natural resources are imperiling the world’s biodiversity. Nearly a quarter of all species are presently at risk of going extinct in the coming decades.

The year 2020, known as “biodiversity super year,” will host several major global events that place biodiversity at the forefront. It provides a unique opportunity to deliver transformative progress for the conservation and sustainable use of the species of wild animals and plants.

Get involved

Share what you've learned with your friends and family.

Spread the word, especially to children and youth. They are the future leaders of wildlife conservation and they deserve a future where we humans live in harmony with wildlife that share the planet with us. 

Remember to use the hashtags #WorldWildlifeDay #WWD2020 #SustainingAllLife #Biodiversity2020 #SustainableUse

                                                                                                                                                    Source:  https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-wildlife-day