Annually, beginning in 2001, May 22 is the International Day for Biological Diversity (International Day for Biological Diversity).

This Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1995 in a special resolution (No. A / RES / 49/119) based on the recommendation of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which was held in 1994.

Initially, the International Day for Biological Diversity was recommended to be celebrated on December 29 - the day of the entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, due to the large number of holidays celebrated at this time of the year, many countries faced difficulties in planning and holding events to celebrate the Day, and it was decided to change this date to May 22.

Biological diversity is all the diversity of life on the planet, which is rapidly declining today. Plants are dying out, animals and forests are disappearing from the face of the Earth ... The main reason for this is the active human activity. And concern about the future of biological diversity of species on our planet was expressed in the fact that at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development, held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, it was proposed to the entire world community to first of all pay attention to the preservation of the biological diversity - both living species and ecological systems.

Every year, the UN Secretary-General prepares a message for the general public on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity. And the holiday itself takes place every year under a specific theme, among which in different years were: “Biodiversity and poverty alleviation - challenges for sustainable development”, “Biodiversity: life insurance in our changing world”, “Climate change and biodiversity”, “ Predatory alien species ”,“ Forest biodiversity ”,“ Water and biodiversity ”,“ Island biodiversity ”,“ Updating the subject of biodiversity, maintaining the lives of people and their livelihoods ”and others.