Wednesday 25th May 2022
CALVIÀ COMMEMORATES WORLD BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY DAY
The exhibition Las orquídeas. Pequeñas joyas de la naturaleza (Orchids. Little gems of nature) can be visited until 31st May
The Calvià Town Hall's Department of the Environment has organised different activities to commemorate World Biological Diversity Day, decreed by the United Nations Organisation (UN) in the Convention on Biological Diversity that was signed in 1992, in the UN Earth Summit, with the aim of raising awareness on the importance of biodiversity for human beings and the need to care for it and preserve it for future generations.
The councillor for the Environment of Calvià Town Hall, Rafel Sedano, has highlighted the importance of the human species being able to live in a much more sustainable world, with greater justice and equity, where the distribution of natural resources can reach a greater number of people, who unfortunately today due to the lack of these resources suffer from hunger, misery and death. Therefore, to ensure that all human beings live in a more sustainable world, it is necessary to apply drastic and urgent measures that allow the protection and preservation of all ecosystems, as well as the biological diversity that inhabits them.
Within the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a proposal integrated within the framework of the Strategic Plan for Environmental Education of Calvià Town Hall, it is planned to face one of the great challenges that people face today, such as improving the welfare and living conditions of all human beings. In this sense, biodiversity plays a vital role since it depends on the development of economic, social and cultural activities that allow covering all basic subsistence needs.
Exhibition Las orquídeas. Pequeñas Joyas de la naturaleza
One of the activities carried out is the exhibition Las orquídeas. Pequeñas joyas de la naturaleza, which is exhibited at the Casal de Es Capdellà until 31st May. It is a photographic and educational exhibition made up of 40 photographs of orchids by Miquel Àngel Gual and Luís Alberto Domínguez, texts by Joan Rita and drawings by Cati Artigues.
Rafel Sedano and the vice president of Sustainability and Environment of the Consell de Mallorca, Aurora Ribot, have visited the travelling exhibition, about which Ribot has explained that "with this scientific and didactic photographic exhibition of orchids, what we seek is to create awareness about the wealth of these small jewels of Nature and claim the importance of environmental education».
They visited the exhibition accompanied by Marga Plomer, deputy mayor for Participation, and José Francisco Giménez, general director for the Environment of Calvià Town Hall.
The exhibition can be visited during the Casal's usual hours, every afternoon from Tuesday to Saturday, from 4 to 8 p.m., and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In addition to the exhibition, the municipal Environment area has carried out various activities over the past weekend. On Saturday 21st, an outing was made to the Santa Ponça stream, to learn, from the hand of Dr. Samuel Pinya, about the diurnal butterflies of this place of high environmental value. This activity has been possible thanks to the agreement between the Town Hall and the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) within the framework of the Calvià Biodibal Agreement. In addition, on Sunday 22nd, the Associació d'Amics de la Finca Pública de Galatzó promoted a Fair for the exchange of plants, cuttings, seeds and plant seedlings in Es Capdellà. In this activity you could actively participate in the exchange, as well as attend a Plant Multiplication workshop, given by the agricultural technician Tolo Gayà. The Association of Local Varieties of the Balearic Islands also participated, with a sample of seeds.
Biological diversity or biodiversity refers to the variety of existing living beings and the genetic differences of each species, both of animals, plants and microorganisms that are born, grow and develop in a given ecosystem and includes the different processes and evolutionary changes that take place with the species and the entire environment that surrounds them and, consequently, the celebration of this Day, which is commemorated on 22nd May, becomes a valuable international tool whose objective is the protection, care and conservation of the biological diversity of the entire planet.