International Day for Biological Diversity

Today, we celebrate 25 years of the United Nation’s International Day for Biological Diversity. Originally proclaimed on Dec. 29, 1993 — the date was changed to May 22 in 2000 — people from across the planet will be participating in activities that recognize the value and importance of biological diversity.

But here at Defenders of Wildlife, we see the value of biodiversity every day, in places across the country where our scientists, conservationists and wildlife advocates are working to save species and restore habitat. We recognize the importance of biodiversity not only to the species that inhabit our wild lands, but also to ourselves. When an endangered species is approaching the brink of extinction, our scientists and policy experts comb through mountains of data to help develop recovery strategies that provide the best possible chance for wildlife to survive and thrive.

We have been given a gift, but it comes with a moral responsibility. Our country is home to beautiful landscapes unlike any other in the world. We can travel from the dense Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Appalachia to the xeric shrublands of the Sonoran Desert. Protecting these lands — and the species that inhabit them — is our greatest task. We must be mindful of our legacy and the responsibility we have to our children and grandchildren to deliver to them healthy landscapes that are rightfully theirs.

When I was the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I had the great honor of reintroducing Mexican gray wolves back to their habitat in the Apache National Forest. It was a moment that was years in the making, but one that I will treasure for always. Bringing these magnificent creatures back to the lands they once inhabited captured a vision of biodiversity where predators roam and balance is achieved.

I think about extinction often. It is hard not to; extinction is forever. We don’t want to be the generation responsible for the end of a species. We want to be the generation that is remembered as having made a difference and having done everything we could to guarantee a future for our planet.

-Jamie