Queen Mary Shares a Message and Photos on World Biodiversity Day 2026

On the United Nations’ World Biodiversity Day, celebrated on May 22, 2026, Queen Mary of Denmark shared a Biodiversity Day message on her social media account, along with photos taken during her visit to Australia with King Frederik X. This year’s International Day for Biological Diversity is being observed under the theme “Acting locally for global impact.”

Queen Mary wrote the following in her World Biodiversity Day message: A few months ago, I revisited the ‘street of my childhood’ — the coastline stretching past Alum Cliffs, which beneath the water’s surface hides a rich and diverse ecosystem.

The towering and dense forests of seaweed — also known as ‘giant kelp’ — along Tasmania’s coast are home to hundreds of animal and plant species. But in recent decades, 95% of these kelp forests have disappeared, partly due to ocean warming, which is occurring three to four times faster than the global average. This is a major loss for the cold-water biodiversity.

That is why researchers from the University of Tasmania are now working to restore the giant kelp forests along Tasmania’s coastlines. They are doing this by replanting the kelp forests and by harvesting sea urchins, which would otherwise consume all the kelp. They are also rebuilding the population of lobster-like rock lobsters, which feed on the sea urchins and thereby help ‘guard’ the kelp forests.

All of this is taking place in collaboration with local authorities and fishing companies, Indigenous communities, and volunteer divers. The restoration of Tasmania’s kelp forests is an inspiring example of exactly this — acting together locally for the benefit of us all.