Aichi Biodiversity Target 1 states that by 2020, at the latest, people
should be aware of the values of biodiversity, and the steps they can take to
conserve and use it sustainably. The project aims to inform a billion people about
the values of biodiversity and encourage them to take action. Both the Earth Hour
and global UN Days related to biodiversity offer opportunities for communication.
Online platforms and social media profiles are intended to achieve at least three
billion digital views. Particular attention is being given to ten key countries, and the project is also address target groups at high-level events relevant for policymaking. Other target groups include decision-makers, sectors of the economy and young people, who will be made aware of the interrelationships between climate change and biodiversity conservation, as well as its preventive role in future zoonotic pandemics.
Countries: Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, South
Africa, Viet Nam
IKI funding: 4,059,817.00 €
Duration: 01/2018 till 05/2023
Status: open
Implementing organisation: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – Germany
Political Partner: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) –
Canada
Implementing Partner: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – México; World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – Singapur; World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International
- Earth Hour 2021
- Earth Hour 2021 was under the motto “Lights out. Climate protection on”. and took place in 192 countries and territories on 27 March 2021. Since 2018, 4 new countries were added.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing curfews, no events were planned by WWF offices on the ground to mark Earth Hour on 27 March 2021. Instead, only digital activities were carried out in all participating countries.
- The links between the COVID-19 pandemic and the biodiversity and climate crises were included in the communicative messages and the findings were continuously updated.
- A unique digital call to action was created to communicate the effect of ‘switching off’ online – the Earth Hour Virtual Spotlight. There was a call to share a single video “on the night” highlighting the links between biodiversity loss, climate change and the increased likelihood of future pandemics.
- 9.6 billion digital impressions were counted on various social media channels (including Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and TikTok). This is the highest number of digital impressions ever achieved on Earth Hour and surpassed all previous records.
- Earth Hour trended on Twitter or Google Trends in 42 countries.
- The Earth Hour Virtual Spotlight video was viewed 2.4 million times in 24 hours,
making it the most viewed video in Earth Hour history. - More than 400 influencers, public figures, environmental activists, and celebrities supported Earth Hour in 42 countries: including Pope Francis, Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, actress Sofia Vergara, tennis player Andy Murray and actor Park Seo-Joon. The 30 most influential influencer accounts had over 10 million followers and some profiles, like the Pope’s, even tweeted multiple times in different languages.
- There were 405 images, 225 suggested texts, 189 videos as well as online banners produced as open source materials and made available to partners on earthhour.org and connect2earth.org.
- Global media coverage resulted in more than 24,300 articles related to Earth Hour.
- Thematic days on biodiversity and nature
- Between July and December 2021, open-source material has been created for 3 thematic days: World Migratory Bird Day, Food Day and World Cities Day. The toolkits for these were published on the Connect2Earth website and shared with partner organisations and multipliers to increase outreach on social media channels.
- In total, 7.06 million digital impressions were counted for those three theme days between July and December 2021. –
- Global Health Talk series
- Against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project's own multi-part interview series “Connect2Earth Global Health Talks” was produced. Renowned experts and scientists from the USA, Europe and Africa report on the relevance of biodiversity for human health and as prevention against future pandemics.
