Hyderabad: The area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn is roughly considered the 'Tropical' region of the Earth. However, the tropics and other factors highly contribute towards climate change. Tropical locations are generally warm and experience little seasonal variation in day-to-day temperatures. The tropical region faces many challenges, such as climate change, deforestation, logging, urbanization and demographic changes.
The 'International Day of the Tropics' is observed on June 29 every year to highlight the challenges faced by the tropics and the implications and issues that affect the world's tropical regions. The day provides an opportunity to take stock of tropical progress, stories, and diversity. In the year 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/267, to mark the anniversary of the launch of the Tropics Report.
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Through this resolution, the UN announced that June 29 will be observed as the 'International Day of the Tropics' every year to raise awareness of the specific challenges of tropical countries. The day provides a platform to highlight the implications of issues affecting the tropical region of the world and the need to raise awareness at all levels and underline the important role of these regions in the ecosystem.
Tropical countries have made significant progress, but they also face a range of challenges, which call for focused attention across a range of development indicators and statistics to achieve sustainable development. Some of these issues include:
- The population living in the tropics experiences more undernourishment and higher levels of poverty than the rest of the world.
- The proportion of the urban population living in slums is higher in the tropics than in the rest of the world.
