May 22nd is the UN's International Day of Biological Diversity. This year's theme: Biodiversity for Sustainable Development. But instead of making little Pinterest planet Earth cupcakes or watching a movie about wildlife, why not get involved with National Geographic's Great Nature Project and have a real impact contributing to the scientific record?
The Great Nature Project was created to crowdsource photos that document biodiversity around the world. National Geographic (NG) is asking people all over the globe to participate by photographing "the vast array of living organisms that we rely on for the air we breathe, the food we eat, and so much more."
NG is asking people to register on the site for the project so they can share their findings. This isn't rocket science; they're asking people to go outside wherever they live and explore, photographing plants, animals, and fungi they run across. Then you can upload your photos to the site.
The project set a goal of 30,000 photographs by May 25th. At the time of this writing the website indicated there were more than 458,000 photographs in the record-so far. NG also reports that more than 20,000 records of more than 4,800 species have been collected. You can view the photostream here.
NG explains The Great Nature Project on its website:
"We need your photos now more than ever. Right now, we're in the middle of a global snapshot of biodiversity. We're trying to get as many photo submissions of biodiversity as possible between now and May 25. So far we have more than 20,000 observations from around the world in the last week. Can you help us get to 30,000 by May 25?"
The International Day of Biological Diversity was created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. Its purpose is to increase awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues.
The Biodiversity for Sustainable Development theme for 2015 is tied to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2015-2030 United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda. This work is a recognition that understanding biodiversity is essential to the sustainable development goal.
The UN comments on the day on its website: "Humanity's fate is tightly linked with biological diversity. . . Biodiversity is essential for sustainable development and human well-being. It is crucial to the reduction of poverty, due to the basic goods and ecosystem services it provides. More than 3 billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity, while over 1.6 billion people rely on forests and non-timber forest products for their livelihoods. Habitat degradation and the loss of biodiversity are threatening the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living in dry and sub-humid lands. Strategies to protect biodiversity must therefore be developed for achieving poverty reduction and sustainable development."
How will you celebrate biological diversity this year? If you happen to be passing through your neighborhood, you can document the local biological scene for posterity.
