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International Day for Biological Diversity 2026
Species by Species: How Local Action Is Building a Global Future for Biodiversity
Posted: 22 May 2026
On this International Day for Biological Diversity, the global community pauses to celebrate nature.
But this year’s theme, ‘Acting locally for global impact’, is more than a celebration. It is a reminder that biodiversity recovery does not happen in conference rooms or policy documents alone. It happens in wetlands, forests, rivers, grasslands, deserts, coral reefs and communities around the world. It happens through the daily actions of people committed to protecting species and restoring ecosystems.
And it happens species by species.
Across the WAZA community, conservationists, researchers, veterinarians, educators, local communities, and volunteers are working every day to halt species decline and enable recovery. Their collective efforts directly contribute to the ambitions of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly Target 4, which calls for urgent action to halt human-induced extinctions, recover threatened species, maintain genetic diversity and support coexistence between people and wildlife.
The Convention on Biological Diversity has made it clear that governments cannot achieve these goals alone. Success depends on a whole-of-society effort, bringing together institutions, communities, businesses, civil society and conservation organisations. Recently, new mechanisms within the CBD’s reporting framework allow actors beyond governments to demonstrate their contributions to biodiversity recovery, making visible the actions taking place across society.
For the global zoo and aquarium community, this is an important recognition of something we have long known:
Every local conservation success contributes to a global biodiversity outcome.
Safeguarding the Future of Species
In Germany, young Northern lapwings raised at Zoo Landau are returning to breed in the wild. Also in Germany, Zoo Heidelberg is helping little owls return to the Rhine-Neckar region, where a population that had dwindled to a single breeding pair has grown to more than 20 pairs through coordinated reintroduction efforts. And at Tierpark Görlitz, the endangered Eurasian hoopoe has increased from just two to 22 breeding pairs thanks to a decade-long nest-box programme across former mining landscapes.
Meanwhile, African Lion Safari in Canada is supporting the recovery of the endangered Eastern loggerhead shrike through field monitoring, research, and genetic studies that help guide conservation management and long-term recovery efforts for one of North America’s most threatened bird populations.
In Ireland, Dublin Zoo is helping vulnerable curlews, dunlins, lapwings and other Irish breeding waders survive through innovative headstarting programmes.
In Belgium, Planckendael and Antwerp ZOO are working alongside farmers, volunteers and conservation authorities to give meadow birds such as curlews, lapwings and black-tailed godwits a better future.
In Australia, zoo-bred Mallee emu-wrens are once again moving through spinifex habitat after world-first breeding and release efforts by Zoos South Australia.
In Austria, after centuries of absence, the Northern bald ibis is reclaiming the skies of Europe through one of the continent’s most remarkable reintroduction programmes by Schönbrunn Zoo.
Each project is different.
Yet together they tell the same story: recovery is possible.
Across Continents, One Shared Mission
In Mexico, Zoológico Guadalajara is creating a future for the critically threatened Casquito mud turtle.
In Canada, the Vancouver Aquarium is supporting the recovery of the sunflower sea star, helping restore balance to coastal marine ecosystems.
At Toronto Zoo, conservationists are rebuilding populations of Blanding’s turtles while advancing recovery efforts for Ontario’s native bat species.
In Germany, more than 1,000 yellow-bellied toads are released annually through the efforts of Straubing Zoo and its partners.
In New Zealand, Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo is safeguarding one of the world’s rarest reptiles, the Whitaker’s skink, building the foundation for future recovery.
And in Guatemala, Oklahoma City Zoo and partners have secured the first protected area dedicated to the Critically Endangered Campbell’s alligator lizard.
In the United States, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has spent more than fifteen years helping recover the Mojave desert tortoise through headstarting, translocation and climate resilience research, with more than 320 juvenile tortoises released to support future populations.
In Virginia, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contributes to species recovery on multiple fronts, from breeding endangered Lake Victoria cichlids and supporting Komodo dragon conservation programmes to coral restoration and the rescue and rehabilitation of stranded sea turtles and marine mammals.
Every species has its own challenges.
Every recovery requires patience.
Every success begins with action.
Restoring Places, Restoring Possibilities
Some conservation stories begin with restoring habitats.
Zoo Schwerin is helping restore vital wetland ecosystems for dragonflies, amphibians and wetland birds.
Dutch institutions including Artis Zoo, Apenheul Primate Park, Rotterdam Zoo, and Royal Burgers’ Zoo are restoring rainforest habitat in Madagascar. The project supports multiple lemur species and monitors the return of wildlife to restored forest areas.
Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Garden‘s Okapi Conservation Project protects both the iconic okapi and the vast forests upon which countless species depend.
The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity in Cambodia under the stewardship of the Allwetterzoo Münster continues rescuing, rehabilitating and returning species of Cambodian wildlife to the wild while strengthening conservation education and community engagement.
In Amsterdam, Artis Amsterdam Royal Zoo and partners are monitoring the migration of Critically Endangered European eels, generating data that helps remove barriers to movement and restore one of Europe’s most threatened fish species.
Because protecting biodiversity is never only about one species.
It is about safeguarding the ecosystems that sustain life.
Protecting the Genetic Future of Species
Many WAZA members are also protecting the genetic diversity that species need to survive and adapt.
The conservation breeding efforts supporting the Bawean deer and Bawean warty pig in Indonesia by Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations (ZGAP).
The work of Dubai Safari Park to recover addax, scimitar-horned oryx and Persian wonder geckos.
The breeding and future release programmes for Lear’s macaws, grey-breasted parakeets and other threatened species in Brazil supported by Loro Parque Fundación.
The transnational conservation initiative to save the Bavarian pine vole, one of Europe’s rarest mammals, led by Alpenzoo Innsbruck-Tirol.
At Twycross Zoo in the United Kingdom, hazel dormice have returned to Leicestershire through habitat surveys, coordinated releases and ongoing monitoring designed to rebuild self-sustaining populations.
These initiatives demonstrate that conservation today is not only about preventing extinction.
It is about securing options for tomorrow.
People Behind the Recovery
Conservation is also about people.
At BIOPARC Valencia, schoolchildren help care for sharp-ribbed salamanders before they are returned to their natural habitats.
Lincoln Park Zoo’s Urban Wildlife Information Network is helping cities around the world learn how people and wildlife can thrive together.
The Iberian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AIZA) is bringing conservation science, institutions and decision-makers together through the presentation of Spain’s National Red List at the Spanish Congress of Deputies in Madrid.
Across the WAZA community, conservation succeeds not only because species are protected, but because people become part of the solution.
From local action to global impact
Together, these stories span wetlands and deserts, islands and forests, oceans and cities, demonstrating the extraordinary breadth of conservation action being delivered across the global zoo and aquarium community.
Different continents.
Different ecosystems.
Different species.
One shared purpose.
Together, these efforts demonstrate how zoos and aquariums contribute meaningfully to the implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and, in particular, to the ambition of Target 4: halting extinctions, recovering species and safeguarding genetic diversity for future generations.
Because biodiversity recovery is not achieved through a single action.
It is built species by species, community by community, place by place.
And when local action is multiplied across a global community, it becomes something much larger:
Global impact.
Over the coming months, WAZA will continue sharing many of these inspiring conservation stories through our communication channels, highlighting the people, partnerships and species behind the work and celebrating the collective contribution of the global zoo and aquarium community to biodiversity conservation worldwide.
The future of biodiversity will not be written by one country, one organisation or one action.
It will be written species by species. Community by community. Across the world.
The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the global alliance of regional associations, national federations, zoos and aquariums, dedicated to the care and conservation of animals and their habitats around the world.
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