The International Day of the Tropics

The Tropics are a region of the Earth, roughly defined as the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Although topography and other factors contribute to climatic variation, tropical locations are typically warm and experience little seasonal change in day-to-day temperature. An important feature of the Tropics is the prevalence of rain in the moist inner regions near the equator, and that the seasonality of rainfall increases with the distance from the equator. The tropical region faces several challenges such as climate change, deforestation, logging, urbanization and demographic changes. Did you know that the Tropics host nearly 95% of the world’s mangrove forests by area and 99% of mangrove species? The Tropics have just over half of the world’s renewable water resources (54%), yet almost half their population is considered vulnerable to water stress. The International Day of the Tropics was initiated by the United Nations as an opportunity to celebrate co...