The importance of International and World Days
Why are International Days so important? At first glance, it may seem quite irrelevant to celebrate World Bee Day or World Migratory Bird Day, for example. Why do bees need the world to talk about them for a full day? That is exactly the point, to talk about them and the difficult future they face if nothing is done to mitigate the problems that are affecting their survival, such as the sustainable initiative of bus stops to combat the decline in bee population. Perhaps through having their own day on the calendar, many more people will become aware of what would happen if bees disappeared, not only in relation to their species, but with virtually all the ecosystems on the planet.
That is why the goal of international days or world days is to increase public awareness of specific problems and for governments to develop initiatives to address it. Some examples of these are International Day of Forests or the World Energy Efficiency Day.
Who chooses International Days?
Most international days are proposed by the States of the United Nations General Assembly and approved, or rejected, by consensus of the Organisation. Usually the topics are related to the main areas of action of the United Nations, such as peacekeeping, the fight for human rights, the fight against climate change or the conservation of the planet. In fact, in its resolutions, the Assembly normally explains the reasons why it has chosen a certain day and date.
At other times, one of the United Nations agencies, such as UNESCO, UNICEF or the World Health Organization, submits a proposal to the UN General Assembly for their approval. If these matters are within their competence, the agencies themselves can sometimes proclaim an international day without going through the Assembly.
The UN uses these events not only to raise awareness and understanding about global issues such as climate change, but to advise States on the initiatives that they can take to mitigate some of the issues highlighted by these dates. On International Day for Biological Diversity, for example, the Organisation invites its members to sign and ratify the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
In addition to these, there are other days that are celebrated thanks to the momentum of social groupsand that become so popular that they are finally institutionalised, as in the case of LGBT Pride Day.
Sustainability Calendar
Each calendar day has a celebration, but the United Nations normally also highlights a specific issue and makes it the main focus of the world agenda for a whole year. On this occasion, the UN has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health(enlace con nofollow).
Because practically all the food we eat comes, in one form or another, from plants. With the proclamation of Plant Health as the focus of all attention this year, the organisation, led by FAO, the aim is to raise awareness of the importance of protecting plants from deadly diseases and pests due to unregulated trade, travel and climate change.