U.N. souvenir sheet honors biodiversity conference

By Denise McCarty

A new souvenir sheet from the United Nations Postal Administration commemorates the U.N. Biodiversity Conference. The UNPA is issuing this sheet of three stamps Oct. 11, the first day of the first part of the conference.

That part of the conference is being held virtually through Oct. 15. The conference is expected to reconvene for an in-person meeting from April 25 to May 8, 2022, in Kunming, China.

The UNPA said: “The UN Biodiversity Conference will convene governments from around the world to agree a new set of goals for nature over the next decade through the Convention on Biological Diversity. This post-2020 global biodiversity framework sets out an ambitious plan to implement action to bring about a transformation in society’s relationship with biodiversity and to ensure that, by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.”

The conference was postponed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three stamps in the sheet are denominated in three currencies: $1.30 for use from the post office at U.N. headquarters in New York City; 2 francs for use from the post office at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; and €1.80 for use from the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria.

The stamps show what appear to be a calla lily, beetle and crane, respectively. Additional creatures shown in the selvage include a tiger, fish, turtle and panda. The panda is part of the conference’s logo in the lower right.

The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation describes the logo as “composed of different elements in the shape of ‘water droplets,’ which integrate traditional Chinese culture and various natural symbols” reflecting biodiversity and cultural diversity fitting the conference’s theme of “Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.”

Sergio Baradat of the United Nations designed the sheet. The UNPA describes his design as incorporating “vertebrates, invertebrates, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, plants and micro-organisms.”

The souvenir sheets are consecutively numbered, printed in a quantity of 48,000 by Cartor Security Printing of France.

For more information, visit the UNPA website; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.

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