29 June: International Day of the Tropics 2019 Theme, Aim, Significance, History

29 June: International Day of the Tropics 2019 Theme, Aim, Significance, History

International Day of Tropics is celebrated on 29 June every year around the world with an aim to spread awareness of specific challenges faced by tropical areas and far-reaching implications of issues affecting the world’s tropical zone.

International Day of Tropics celebrates the diversity of topics and provides the opportunity to share tropical stories and expertise and to acknowledge the diversity and potential of the region.

International Day of Tropics 2019 theme & campaign are #WeAreTheTropics and #TropicsDay.

International Day of the Tropics was instituted by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 14 June 2016 by adopting resolution A/RES/70/267.

International Day of Tropics day was proclaimed to mark the anniversary of the launch of ‘State of the Tropics Report’ by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on 29 June 2014.

Tropics

The Tropics are the region of Earth between tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn. The tropical locations are typically warm and experience little seasonal change in day-to-day temperature, even though their topography and other factors contribute to climatic variation. The peculiar climatic feature of Tropics is the prevalence of rain in moist inner regions near the equator and increase seasonality of rainfall with distance from the equator.

The Tropics account for 40% of the world’s total surface area and are host to approximately 80% of the world’s biodiversity and also much of its language and cultural diversity. The region is facing a number of challenges such as climate change, deforestation, logging, urbanization, and demographic changes.

The Tropics host nearly 95% of the world’s mangrove forests by area and 99% of mangrove species.