International Day for Biological Diversity

22 May
The International Day for Biological Diversity is celebrated each year on 22 May to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues and to commemorate the adoption of the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity on 22 May 1992.
From its creation by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in 1993 until 2000, it was held on December 29 to celebrate the day the Convention on Biological Diversity went into effect. On December 20, 2000, the date was shifted to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on May 22, 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, and partly to avoid the many other holidays that occur in late December.

In the resolution proclaiming the day (55/201, 20 December 2000), the UN General Assembly expressed its deep concern about the continuing loss of the world’s biological diversity, and reaffirmed the commitment to the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and the appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and technologies, and by appropriate funding.