Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology is excited to announce that it has become the first Lithuanian institution to join the Global Coalition #UnitedforBiodiversity. The European Commission’s Global Coalition was launched on World Wildlife Day 2020 ahead of the CoP 15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2021. The Coalition aims to raise awareness about biodiversity.
The world is facing a global crisis – species extinction is occurring at an unprecedented rate. The report estimates that as many as 1 million plant and animal species are currently threatened with extinction. Biodiversity is in danger because of the destruction of animal habitats, pollution, and overexploitation of resources.
The EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius, who launched the formation of the Global Coalition #UnitedforBiodiversity in March 2020, urged all world national parks, zoos, aquariums, research centres, museums and botanic gardens to speak up about biodiversity preservation. He stated, “We urgently need to take action, at all levels, from local to global, otherwise, our only chance of seeing nature is in these institutions. That would be a failure of humankind. It is time for us to reconnect with nature.”
For Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology preservation of biological diversity is an extremely important topic. One of the museum’s purposes is to acquaint the public with animal diversity, development, and ecological links of Lithuanian and the world’s fauna. This is implemented by conducting research on Lithuanian fauna, organizing excursions and educational activities on biodiversity topics.
Currently, 205 institutions from 47 countries have already joined the Coalition. Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology calls on all its partners to join the #UnitedforBiodiversity Coalition and raise awareness of the importance of the CoP15 negotiations and biodiversity preservation. We believe that together we can stop the extinction of species worldwide and build a sustainable future.
