Today’s Google Doodle honors Earth Day, April 22. This year, Google is featuring six images from places around the world where people, communities, and governments work every day to help protect the planet’s natural beauty, biodiversity, and resources.
According to Google, these examples offer hope and optimism, but also remind us that there is much more work to be done to address the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.
The photos are featured in this year's Earth Day Google Doodle.
These locations include:
Turks and Caicos Islands: The islands are home to important areas of biodiversity with conservation efforts addressing ongoing environmental challenges, including protecting natural resources and coral reefs and restoring endangered species such as the rock iguana.
Scorpion Reef National Park, Mexico: Also known as Arrecife de Alacranes, this is the largest coral reef in the southern Gulf of Mexico and a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The marine reserve serves as a refuge for coral and several endangered species of birds and turtles.
Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland: Established as a national park in 2008 after decades of campaigning, this UNESCO World Heritage Site protects the ecosystem in and around Europe's largest glacier. The combination of volcanoes and glaciers creates rare landscapes and flora.
Jaú National Park, Brazil. Also known as Parque Nacional do Jaú, this is one of the largest forest reserves in South America and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the area protects a wide variety of species, including margays, jaguars, giant otters, and the Amazonian manatee.
The Great Green Wall, Nigeria. Started in 2007, this African Union-led initiative aims to restore land affected by desertification across Africa, planting trees and other vegetation and implementing sustainable land management practices. This also provides people and communities in the region with increased economic opportunities, food security and climate resilience.
Pilbara Islands Nature Reserve, Australia. Located next to one of the Pilbara Islands Nature Reserves, one of 20 nature reserves in Australia that protects fragile ecosystems, increasingly rare natural habitats, and a number of threatened or endangered species—including many species of sea turtles, shorebirds, and seabirds.
In 2009, April 22 was officially recognized by the United Nations as an annual event about the Earth and the environment that is celebrated around the world. Earth Day is an important occasion to remind people of the importance of protecting and respecting our common living environment.
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