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Every year on June 5, World Environment Day is celebrated, which is the largest event dedicated to nature conservation. Since its celebration, for the first time in 1972, people have organized thousands of events - from cleaning the neighborhood and countering wildlife crimes, to afforestation and restoration of existing forests. The theme of World Environment Day 2017 - "Connecting people with nature", draws attention and calls to go out into nature, to appreciate its beauty and value and to protect our planet Earth.

The aim of the network is to ensure the long-term protection and conservation of the most important and valuable animal species and habitats in Europe, the existence of which is of paramount importance for human health, society and the economy. Natura 2000 provides a number of environmentally friendly benefits, while also having a number of vital social and economic functions. Some 4.4 million jobs in the EU depend directly on the use of the resources of sustainable natural ecosystems, a significant proportion of which are covered by Natura 2000 protected areas. The financial benefits stemming from the network itself are estimated at between € 200 billion and € 300 billion a year.

Every year, on the 2nd of February, we celebrate World Wetlands Day (WWD) to commemorate the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.

For example, finance for sustainable forestry and for forest protection is outpaced by finance for deforestation by more than 140 to 1. It’s time to make a business case for sound and politically feasible finance solutions for biodiversity. UNDP and our partners invite you to learn how to make a business case for financing nature by joining our upcoming Massive Online Open Course on Biodiversity Finance, a free seven-week course, offered in English, Spanish, French and Russian. This course will teach participants how to assess the policy, institutional, and economic context for biodiversity finance; conduct a financial needs assessment to achieve a country’s biodiversity goals; and develop a biodiversity finance plan with the most suitable finance solutions for tackling persistent finance gaps. The course runs from 15 April through 31 May 2019 and is designed to train biodiversity policymakers and practitioners on how to use the language of business and finance to make a business case for conserving biodiversity as a means of achieving national economic priorities. You can find the registration links here: English, French, Spanish, Russian. Participants who do not have a Learning for Nature account must create an account here prior to registering for the course. You can view the Course trailer here, see the Registration announcement here, and find the Promotional package here. We would be grateful if you could share this information about the course with your networks, including on social media. Thank you in advance for your support, and we hope to see you online in 2 short weeks!