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This map features registered World Wildlife Day celebrations around the world. Share how you are celebrating World Wildlife Day this year and let people know if they can join a local public event by registering your event!
Explore the artwork of the IFAW 2025 Youth Art Contest winners and finalists!
Keira, 18, USA - Winner of the WWD 2025 International Youth Art Contest (and Best in Ages 15-18)
Wild animals and plants are a vital part of the intricate web of life, sustaining ecosystems and natural processes that we depend on to survive and thrive. Through the transformational power of art, contestants will raise awareness for wildlife conservation and share the benefits we receive from wild plants and animals.
This year’s World Wildlife Day is celebrated under the theme of “Wildlife Conservation Finance: Investing in People and Planet” and aims to highlight the need to invest in wildlife through innovative financing solutions that recognize the critical role of wildlife to support our economies and well-being.
The International Youth Art contest is held in partnership with the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Contestants entered with traditional art mediums (hand drawn using markers, crayons, colored pencils and/or paint). The contest was open to youth artists aged 4-18.
Participants were asked to choose a species that benefits from conservation programs, which include many of the planet’s threatened and endangered species—many of which IFAW works to protect through its programs. Participants were encouraged to consider the importance of funding to secure protected areas and the wildlife and resources found within them.
The finalists and winning entries were presented at the WWD2025 United Nations Celebration on 3 March 2025.
Discover the artwork here
Watch the Jackson Wild 2025 Film Showcase!
This year's showcase highlights films that encompass the theme of Wildlife Conservation Finance: Investing in People and Planet. Films were selected based on how effectively they celebrate the achievements of individuals and/or groups working together to make substantial progress in enhancing the protection or regeneration of a species, ecosystem, or some other aspect of the natural world in the face of our global climate crisis.
Selected films:
Beyond the Trees - Imaginary Forces, VanEck
Polar Bear Country - Nat Hab Films and Off the Map Media
Nature For All - Sourland Studios, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Native American Advancement Corporation
Sea, Land & City - A Wonderoom film in co-production with Rubber Republic
Groundwork, Building Community Through Regenerative Rubber - The North Face, Gnarly Bay
Mother Nature in the Boardroom - Sea Change Project
Wild Hope: Guano Gold - An HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and NEWF Production
Wild Hope: Mission Impossible - An HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and Red Rock Films Production, in association with Camera One Productions LLC
All selected films will be available to watch online, for free until the end of 2025!
Learn more
Watch the World Wildlife Day 2025 United Nations Celebration!
The high-level event for UN World Wildlife Day 2025 took place on 3 March 2025 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (10:00AM-12:00PM Central European Time).
Experts from around the world and International Geneva highlighted innovative financial mechanisms for wildlife conservation and shared actionable pathways to mobilize the financial resources for investing in the future of our planet. This event featured a musical performance with medicinal plants, an expert panel discussion on the 2025 theme, statements from Member States, the announcement of the winners of the International Youth Art Contest, and a trailer premiere of the 2025 Jackson Wild Film Showcase!
Watch the event on YouTube
Share your #WildLife on social media
How are you involved in #WildlifeConservationFinance for #WWD2025?
How are you #InvestingInPeopleandPlanet?
Tag World Wildlife Day on social media and use these official hashtags to share with the world what you're doing for the conservation of nature and for celebrating wildlife on #WorldWildlifeDay!
X (formerly Twitter) | @WildlifeDay |
@worldwildlifeday | |
@WorldWildlifeDay |
WWD2025 Social Media Kit - Trello Board available here!