Biodiversity Protection Through Partnerships and Service

On World Wildlife Day, March 5, the Universal Peace Federation joins the global community in striving to protect biodiversity. As part of UPF’s 100 Days of Serving Community campaign, from February 20 to June 1, 2026, the month of March is dedicated to strengthening partnerships for community service. The campaign culminates on June 1, the UN Global Day of Parents. In the context of biodiversity, partnerships determine what can be achieved in the field, from preventing pollution to restoring habitats, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

UPF advances One Family under God through responsibility and service in daily actions. Dr. Hak Ja Han and the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon taught that peace earns trust through concrete care for people, communities, and future generations.

UPF founders also emphasized stewardship of natural water resources. In 1980, they presented an ocean stewardship vision that paired values education with experience at sea, encouraging young people to see the ocean as a shared inheritance rather than an arena for exploitation. This vision corresponds to Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water).

UPF organizes dialogues that connect marine ecosystems with sustainable development. In 2019, UPF convened an International Leadership Conference in Yeosu, South Korea on the ocean environment and sustainable development.

In 2024, UPF-Korea and the Korean Peace NGO Association convened an academic seminar on climate and environmental change and the role of civil society. In 2025, UPF partners convened a World Summit breakout session on climate and the environment, organized by the Hyo Jeong International Foundation for Environmental Peace. The published report is titled Experts Suggest Ways to Manage Climate Crises.

In Paraguay’s Pantanal, UPF has shared the Leda Project as a community model that links sustainable land use and local livelihoods with the protection of a high biodiversity ecosystem. 

Across regions, UPF teams reduce habitat pressure caused by plastic pollution and unmanaged waste by combining education, hands-on cleanups, cooperation with local institutions, and better local practice. Keeping rivers, wetlands, and shorelines cleaner protects biodiversity at the point where pollution enters ecosystems.

In Africa, UPF volunteers and partners in Nairobi, Kenya brought together more than a thousand participants from youth groups, schools, women’s associations, faith communities, police cadets, and veterans’ organizations to remove waste along about 300 meters of the Nairobi River. The effort included planting tree seedlings along the riverbank to reduce erosion and support a healthier river corridor, followed by adopting sections of the river for continuing care. Such work supports UNEP’s river-basin restoration priorities and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land).

In the same regional spirit, UPF teams in Mali have combined canal cleanups and tree planting around cemeteries in Bamako, linking environmental care with public health and community spaces. In Burkina Faso, UPF-Burkina Faso convened a public event linked to World Environment Day that included a tree planting ceremony and discussion of reforestation.

In Japan, a family-based riverbank cleanup along the Arakawa River in Tokyo combined litter removal with simple accountability. Participants recorded the type and quantity of litter found, and noted items such as small resin pellets that can harm animals in rivers and seas. Family-based service builds habits that scale into wider community stewardship, supporting biodiversity protection under SDG 15.

In the Caribbean, Religious Youth Service has used environmental service as training in cooperation and civic responsibility. In Trinidad and Tobago, Religious Youth Service combined environment cleaning and reef-related work at Aripo Heights with community projects, including improvements at a school serving children with disabilities. An RYS program in Trinidad supported a Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Center in Petit Valley through maintenance and repairs of its grounds and animal cages.

In Europe, UPF-UK partnered with CleanCyclers for World Environment Day 2025, using a documentary and panel discussion to highlight plastic pollution and microplastics. In Slovakia, UPF-Slovakia organized an educational program in connection with World Water Day, focusing on how microplastics affect ecosystems and the wider food chain.

In Oceania, UPF volunteers have joined Clean Up Australia Day to remove roadside litter that often ends up in waterways. In Buenos Aires, UPF-Argentina participated in a public tree planting as part of the "Let’s Plant Trees: Let’s Sow Peace" campaign, treating green corridors and public spaces as a shared trust.

In the Russian Federation, the Eco-Losevo Festival has shown how continuity can restore a shoreline through repeated cleanups and community participation over a decade. The Russian volunteers have restored sensitive tourist trails around Lake Baikal by building and repairing pedestrian bridges and supporting low-impact ecotourism that reduces pressure on shoreline and reserve areas. The Baikal Project shows how service can strengthen stewardship of a globally significant natural heritage site.

As we mark World Wildlife Day, I invite United Nations agencies, governments, civil society, academia, and faith communities to partner with us in protecting biodiversity through on-the-ground cooperation, youth and community service, and sustained care for habitats. UPF Ambassadors for Peace can help convene partners and support continuity so that local initiatives become long-term stewardship.

Dr. Tageldin Hamad, President, UPF-International March 5, 2026