World Habitat Conservation Day

October 6 is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. It arose relatively recently, and there are still several opinions regarding the importance of this day and the specifics of its celebration. As the name suggests, it was installed in order to once again remind humanity that our lives directly depend on how much we, people, are able to preserve the nature around us, flora and fauna. The holiday was established in 1979, its initiators were prominent European scientific circles and public figures. That year, a conference was held in Switzerland on the problems of preserving nature and the natural habitat for animals and plants. The emphasis is on wild flora and fauna, that is, on preserving natural habitats. It cannot be said that this is a holiday in its classical sense. It is interesting that in recent decades, such holidays are increasingly appearing, which, in fact, are dedicated to serious problems of society. The purpose of the events held these days is to attract people's attention to the environmental problem in order to try to solve it before it is too late. On this day, meetings are held, and schools traditionally organize classes to talk about pressing environmental challenges. In particular, it is noted that during its existence humanity has turned about 2 billion hectares of once fertile land into desert. Accordingly, the flora and fauna in these territories was destroyed. There are also other equally impressive statistics. For example, often on World Habitat Conservation Day, social activists and ecologists remind us that every hour on the planet (and to this day) three species of fauna completely disappear. If we talk about flora, then several dozen essentially unique specimens of plants and trees cease to exist every day. Perhaps the celebration of World Habitat Conservation Day can be seen as humanity’s last attempt to cope with the problem. Yes, such attempts should have been made much earlier, that is, at least several decades ago, but humanity began to actively think about preserving unique flora and fauna only recently. In addition, it is customary to do charity work on this day. Especially those related to helping homeless animals, planting trees, cleaning areas, rivers and other bodies of water. This holiday is celebrated more actively in European countries, in particular in states that are members of the European Union. Gradually, its popularity spreads to other countries, as well as to the countries of Eastern Europe. Traditionally, this day marks the opening of parks, reserves, ecological zones, and shelters for wild animals.