Vultures are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats in many areas that they occur. Populations of many species are under pressure and some species are facing extinction.

The International Vulture Awareness Day has grown from Vulture Awareness Days run by the Birds of Prey Programme in South Africa and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England, who decided to work together and expand the initiative into an international event.

It is now recognised that a co-ordinated international day will publicise the conservation of vultures to a wider audience and highlight the important work being carried out by the world’s vulture conservationists.

On the first Saturday in September, the aim is for each participating organisation to carry out their own activities that highlight vulture conservation and awareness. This website, established in July 2009, provides a central place for all participants to outline these activities and see the extent of vulture conservation across the world.

The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.

Global Wind Day is a worldwide event that occurs annually on 15 June. It is a day for discovering wind, its power and the possibilities it holds to reshape our energy systems, decarbonise our economies and boost jobs and growth.

Today, wind energy is a mature and mainstream technology and one of the fastest growing industrial sectors in the world with over $100 billion invested in 2015.

In the EU alone, the wind industry installed more than gas and coal combined last year with enough cumulative installed capacity to meet 11.4% of the region’s electricity consumption, equivalent to powering 87 million households.

Global Wind Day is a coordinated action between WindEurope, the Global Wind Energy Council and the national associations to introduce the general public to wind energy through a series of activities. In the run-up to 15 June, hundreds of public events will be held all over the world from family outings and wind farm visits to seminars with experts and leading industry figures.