International Day for Biological Diversity
, on Thursday, 22 May 2025, highlights the inherent connections between people and the natural world through the theme, "Harmony with nature and sustainable development". It underscores the need to achieve the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss – interlinked with achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, Director ad interim at the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre , talked with journalist Malini Shankar of the India-based Digital Discourse Foundation about how Traditional Medicine can support biodiversity conservation, from protecting medicinal plants through international cooperation to safeguarding traditional knowledge via access and benefit-sharing with local communities.
"On World Biodiversity Day, we honour Indigenous Peoples who have safeguarded nature-based knowledge for generations, the health care workers on the frontlines and the scientists at the frontiers – all working to heal both people and planet", Dr Kuruvilla said.
With only five years left to achieve the near-term 2030 GBF targets and the SDGs, Traditional Medicine is a bridge connecting ancestral wisdom with modern science, local practices with global health goals, and cultural identity with sustainable development to restore balance for the health and well-being of people and planet.
Read the full interview here.
