About International Day for Biological Diversity
The International Day for Biological Diversity, often called World Biodiversity Day, is observed on 22 May, and in 2027 it falls on Saturday, 22 May 2027. It marks the day in 1992 when the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted in Nairobi. India is one of seventeen megadiverse countries and holds four of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
Biodiversity is a word that hides what it means. It is the number of different living things in a place, and the differences within each of them: two hundred rice varieties in one district, the gut bacteria in a cow, the three kinds of bee on one flowering tree. Losing it rarely looks dramatic. It looks like a market with fewer things in it.
What is the International Day for Biological Diversity and why 22 May?
The day marks 22 May 1992, when the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted at a meeting in Nairobi. The treaty was opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit that June.
The day was not always in May. It was first observed on 29 December, the date the convention entered into force in 1993. Many countries found that date impossible to work with, coming in the middle of holidays, so the UN General Assembly shifted it to 22 May through resolution 55/201 in 2000.
The convention's current plan is the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022, which sets 23 targets for 2030. The best known are the two thirties: conserve 30 per cent of land, inland water and sea, and restore 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems, both by 2030. The theme for the 2026 observance was "Acting locally for global impact".
Why is India called a megadiverse country?
Because it packs an unusual share of the world's species into a small share of its land. India has about 2.4 per cent of the world's land area and roughly 7 to 8 per cent of all recorded species, including more than 45,000 plant species and around 91,000 animal species. It is one of seventeen countries on the megadiverse list.
Four of the world's biodiversity hotspots, places with exceptional numbers of species found nowhere else and exceptional levels of loss, reach into India.
| Hotspot | Indian part | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Western Ghats and Sri Lanka | Maharashtra to Kerala | Older than the Himalaya; frogs, caecilians and Myristica swamps found nowhere else. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 2012 |
| Himalaya | Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh | Steep bands of habitat from subtropical forest to alpine meadow within a few kilometres |
| Indo-Burma | Northeast India | Freshwater turtles, hoolock gibbon, hundreds of orchid species |
| Sundaland | Nicobar Islands | Island species isolated for long enough to evolve separately, including the Nicobar megapode |
India also keeps biodiversity outside the formal system. Sacred groves, patches of forest left untouched for a local deity, run into the tens of thousands across the country. They are called kavu in Kerala, devrai in Maharashtra, sarna in Jharkhand, law kyntang in Meghalaya and orans in Rajasthan, and some hold old trees that survive nowhere else nearby.
What law protects biodiversity in India?
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which India passed to meet its obligations under the convention. It set up a three-level structure: the National Biodiversity Authority at Chennai, state biodiversity boards, and a biodiversity management committee in every local body, whether panchayat or municipality.
The committees' main job is the People's Biodiversity Register, a written record of local plants, animals, crop varieties, medicines and the knowledge attached to them. More than 2.6 lakh registers have been prepared. The point is not only documentation. If a company wants to use a local resource or a piece of traditional knowledge commercially, the register is the evidence behind any claim for a share of the benefits.
- Endemic
- Found naturally in one area and nowhere else. The lion-tailed macaque is endemic to the Western Ghats.
- Hotspot
- A region with very high numbers of endemic species that has already lost most of its original habitat.
- Megadiverse
- One of seventeen countries that between them hold most of the world's species.
- PBR
- People's Biodiversity Register, the local record of species and traditional knowledge kept by a panchayat or municipal committee.
- Agrobiodiversity
- The variety within crops and livestock: landraces of rice, desi cattle breeds, local mango and banana varieties.
What to write on World Biodiversity Day
Happy International Day for Biological Diversity. Fourteen bird species visit the tree outside our gate. I counted this morning instead of opening email.
Happy Biodiversity Day. Here's to the species nobody funds: the moths, the fungi, the soil mites doing all the work.
Happy Biodiversity Day. Which mango did you grow up eating? Nobody sells it now, and I want to find a tree.
Happy International Day for Biological Diversity. Learn the name of one plant nobody around you knows. That is how it starts.
On Biodiversity Day, thank you for the work on the local biodiversity register. It is the only record of what grows here.
Happy Biodiversity Day. Leave one corner messy this year. That is where the frogs and the wild bees will live.
Around the same week, see World Bee Day on 20 May and World Environment Day on 5 June. For the trade side of species protection, see World Wildlife Day on 3 March.
How to wish someone on International Day for Biological Diversity
Biodiversity is an abstract word, so a good message swaps it for something the reader can picture: a bird that has stopped visiting, a mango variety that has vanished from the market, a grove near a temple. For biologists, forest staff and panchayat members who maintain biodiversity registers, name their work. Avoid gloom-only messages; most people stop reading.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is International Day for Biological Diversity in 2026 and 2027?
International Day for Biological Diversity is on 22 May every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is International Day for Biological Diversity in 2027?
International Day for Biological Diversity 2027 falls on Saturday, 22 May 2027.
Why is the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May?
It marks 22 May 1992, when the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted at a meeting in Nairobi. The day was originally held on 29 December, and the UN General Assembly moved it to 22 May in 2000 because the December date clashed with holidays in many countries.
What is biodiversity in simple words?
Biodiversity is the range of living things in a place, counted at three levels: the number of different species, the genetic variety within each species, and the variety of habitats they live in. A field with one crop and a forest with three hundred plant species are the two ends of it.
Which biodiversity hotspots are in India?
Four of the world's biodiversity hotspots extend into India: the Western Ghats, the Himalaya, Indo-Burma across the Northeast, and Sundaland, which reaches India through the Nicobar Islands. A hotspot is a region rich in species found nowhere else that has already lost most of its natural habitat.
What is a People's Biodiversity Register?
A People's Biodiversity Register is a local record of plants, animals, crop varieties and traditional knowledge, prepared by the biodiversity management committee of a panchayat or municipality under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. More than 2.6 lakh have been prepared across India.
What is the Biological Diversity Act, 2002?
It is the Indian law that carries out the country's commitments under the UN biodiversity convention. It created the National Biodiversity Authority in Chennai, state biodiversity boards and local biodiversity management committees, and it regulates commercial access to Indian biological resources and the sharing of benefits from them.
What are sacred groves?
Sacred groves are patches of forest protected by a community for religious reasons, often dedicated to a local deity and closed to felling and grazing. India has tens of thousands, known as kavu in Kerala, devrai in Maharashtra, sarna in Jharkhand, law kyntang in Meghalaya and orans in Rajasthan.
Last verified by the Kehdoo team on .