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UN marks Day of the Tropics with focus on region’s vulnerability

The majority of the world’s most vulnerable communities are in the Tropics, and will be most affected by environmental threats, according to the United Nations, which today marked the International Day of the Tropics.

“Loss of biodiversity is greater in the Tropics than in the rest of the world,” according to the Day’s official website, which noted that the region hosts some 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and much of its language and cultural diversity.

The UN has projected that by 2050, the region will host most of the world’s people and two-thirds of its children.

The Day “celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the tropics while highlighting unique challenges and opportunities nations of the Tropics face,” according to the website.

For example, nearly 95 per cent of the world’s mangrove forests by area are in the Tropics.

CIFOR

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