At the end of 2014, Hungary's three largest nature conservation NGOs, WWF Hungary, the Association of Hungarian Conservationists and the Hungarian Ornithological and Conservation Association, started collecting signatures in order to strengthen the situation of domestic nature conservation. Their goal was to draw attention to Hungarian natural values. Many organizations and individuals joined the initiative.
This collaboration was unprecedented, and thus the Hungarian Nature Day was created. The important day was held for the first time on May 22, 2015, in Holdudvar on Margitsziget, by the three initiating organizations. Every year since then, more and more people draw attention, not only on this day, to Hungarian natural treasures.
Dr. István Simicskó, the faction leader of the KDNP, indicated in a statement: "There are many occasions when we focus on the values of the created world, but this one stands out among them. Today's significant day was created by civil solidarity and the Hungarian people's love for nature. Its purpose is to draw our attention to the treasures of mother nature, whose gifts we also benefit from every day. We often take the resources of the world around us – such as drinking water, agricultural land, raw materials – for granted. It is therefore important for us to understand that our children can only enjoy these priceless treasures in the future if we treat nature like a good steward. We must consciously take care of the created world and it is essential that we teach our children this as well. We have to act like people, not consumers.”
According to Simicskó: "although we all share in the gifts of the Earth, protecting and preserving it is also a common task of all of us. Everyone can do what they can to ensure that this priceless treasure is not damaged, but rather continues to grow. The key to our health and life is the nature that surrounds us, let's take care of it, because that's how we can take care of ourselves and each other!"
May 22 is also the World Day for the Protection of Biodiversity. The World Day tries to draw the attention of the wider public to the importance and preservation of biological diversity. The date is no coincidence, on this day in 1992, the final text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted at the conference of the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi.
Source: MTI
Featured image: voroseszold.eu
