The fact to kick this calendar off comes as no surprise to those who have been following this calendar since at least 2020. Back then I had already announced that the United Nations have made the year 2024 (which is this year) the International Year of Camelids. The Year was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). I highly recommend their website in which they communicate all kinds of facts and stories which have to do with camelids. The trailer video has some pretty cute images of all of the six kinds of camelids which include bactrian camels (the ones with two humps), dromedaries (the ones with one hump), alpacas (the ones we all love), vicuñas (the wild forms of alpacas), llamas (the larger version of an alpaca), and guanacos (the wild form of a llama):

The motto of the IYC was

Heroes of deserts and highlands: 
nourishing people and culture

Their communication handbook reveals five key messages they wanted to highlight during this year:

• Greater support to the camelid sector can accelerate progress towards achieving Zero Hunger and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The livelihoods of many communities around the world depend on camelid products and services.
• Camelids are of strong social and cultural importance.
• Camelids contribute to the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and build resilience to climate change.
• We need to invest in capacity development, research and outreach to develop the camelid sector.

I am happily contributing to the goal of educating more people about the importance of camelids (especially the South American ones) even without being part of the IYC 2024!