Pairi Daiza has joined the Global Coalition "United for Biodiversity"

21/05/2021

The Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, in the province of Hainaut, has joined the Global Coalition for Biodiversity, an initiative of the European Commission

As such, it joins the 12 Belgian institutions that are officially members of this coalition. The International Day for Biological Diversity, which is celebrated each year on 22 May, is an opportunity to honour all forms of life.

 

Threatened by human activities causing global warming and deforestation, biodiversity is going through an unprecedented crisis. An estimated one million species are now at risk of extinction, nearly half of which are plants and fungi.  The name of the park is derived from the oldest word for paradise: "Pairi Daiza", which in Old Persan means "enclosed garden" or "walled orchard". Since its foundation, the aim of the park was to conserve and reproduce endangered species in a natural environment. The animal park houses more than 7,000 animals from all over the world, such as birds, mammals, fish and reptiles, on the site of the former Cambron Abbey with its trees dating back hundreds of years and numerous historic buildings.

 

In recent months, two Sumatran orangutans, two red pandas, an Asian elephant, a giraffe, a Steller sea lion, a dozen Cape penguins and three giant pandas have been born in Brugelette.