There is a day for everything. There’s Mother’s Day, there is a Flag Day. There’s even a National Donut Day.

This month, The United Nations celebrated International Day for Biological Diversity. It might be a mouthful, but turns out there is a lot to be celebrated about biodiversity and a lot that the world is at risk to lose if it is not taken seriously.

Biodiversity can help solve a slew of challenges. To name a few of those benefits, biodiversity can help poverty eradication, food security, sustainable production and consumption, water security, disaster risk reduction and climate change, according the the UN.

What does biodiversity mean exactly?

According to the National Wildlife Federation, it is a variety of life. Meaning within a habitat or ecosystem, there is a wide variation of species from plants to animals.

Protecting biodiversity might mean protecting the environment, but in doing so, it can provide for the well-being of people everywhere through food, fuel and medicine...seems pretty essential if you ask me.

That “variety” means that further discoveries in medicine can happen and it means that we can continue to explore alternatives for sources of fuel.

UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon said specifically that “Protecting ecosystems and ensuring access to ecosystem services by poor and vulnerable groups are essential to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.”

Biodiversity is key to sustainable agriculture, fishery and forestry, which affect food security and nutrition all over the world (another thing that we know is essential to ending extreme poverty).

Goal 15 of the the Sustainable Development Goals is lining up to address a loss in biodiversity. Even though the goals are a roadmap until 2030, most of the targets under this goal are aimed to be met by 2020 because this is an urgent issue that calls for immediate action if we are to create a sustainable future.

International Day for Biological Diversity may not be the most popular holiday, but after looking into what the big deal is all about, it certainly seems worth celebrating to me.