When May 12th comes around every year, it’s time for everyone to observe the International Day of Plant Health. This is a holiday that attempts to raise the public’s awareness about the importance of protecting the health of plants and how it can affect food security, worldwide food distribution, and consumption.

It’s a day that attempts to protect biodiversity around the world, face the agricultural challenges caused by climate change, and help end world hunger. These are all objectives that the world can meet if we all come together and work together. Sure, some of these issues surrounding the protection of indigenous plants are complicated, but there are solutions that can be put into place.

The History Of International Day Of Plant Health

Before anyone tries to discount the importance of this holiday, let us all take a moment to talk about just how important plants are to all of humanity. Plants provide us with oxygen, food, fiber, shelter, medicine, and even fuel.

There isn’t any one aspect of human life that isn’t touched by plants and that’s why it’s important to protect indigenous plants around the world. Unfortunately, deforestation, climate change, and mismanagement of resources are causing severe damage to our ecosystems and as a result, the health of plants around the world is at risk.

It’s been estimated that in 2021 alone, up to 40% of food crops were lost to plant pests and diseases. This not only makes the problem of world hunger even worse, but it also threatens the livelihoods of rural communities around the world.

Now that we know the importance of this holiday, let’s find out exactly when it was created. According to our research, this holiday was created in March of 2022 by order of the United National General Assembly.

They decided that this holiday should be observed on the 12th of May and would be used as a day to highlight world agricultural problems. The International Day of Plant Health is a holiday that’s observed on not only the local level but also on the regional, national and global levels as well.

Observing International Day Of Plant Health

Everyone should feel free to observe this holiday in their own way. For some people that might mean making sure that they’re using eco-friendly agricultural methods for their home garden or on their farm. For other people, it’s asking politicians to support and protect the food security chain.

This is a holiday that can be observed by individuals, agricultural groups, government agencies, and just about everyone who has a vested interest in biodiversity and agricultural development. People should feel free to use the hashtag #InternationalDayOfPlantHealth to spread the word about this holiday.