Important Days & Dates Quiz: International Years and Decades

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2023 the International Year of Millets on a proposal moved by India and supported by more than seventy countries, and the Food and Agriculture Organization led the observance; India promoted the crops at home under the name Shree Anna.

India moved the proposal, it was supported by more than seventy member states, the General Assembly adopted it in 2021 and the year was observed in 2023 with the Food and Agriculture Organization as the lead agency.

An international year exists because the Assembly, in which every member state has one vote, adopts a resolution declaring it, usually on a proposal from one or more states.

The year 2024 was the International Year of Camelids, the family of animals that includes camels, llamas, alpacas, vicunas and guanacos, which carry loads, give milk, meat and wool, and support families in deserts and high mountains where little else can live.

The General Assembly declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health to show how protecting plants from pests and diseases protects food supply, trade and the environment, and the Food and Agriculture Organization led the year.

The year 2016 was the International Year of Pulses, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization, and it drew attention to crops such as gram, arhar, moong, urad and masoor, which give protein cheaply and fix nitrogen in the soil.

The year 2019 marked one hundred and fifty years since Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the elements in his table in 1869, and the United Nations declared it the International Year of the Periodic Table alongside the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration runs from 2021 to 2030, the same ten years as the Sustainable Development Goals, and it is led jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization; its aim is to revive damaged forests, wetlands, grasslands and coasts.

After the International Year of Indigenous Languages in 2019 showed how many languages are close to disappearing, the General Assembly set aside the ten years from 2022 to 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, with UNESCO as the lead agency.

The year 2011 was the International Year of Forests, observed to show how forests support water, soil, climate and the livelihood of people who live in and around them; the same year was also the International Year of Chemistry.

The General Assembly declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation, to draw attention to the melting of glaciers that feed rivers such as the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra and to the risk this carries for water supply and for floods.

India proposed the observance at the United Nations, the General Assembly adopted the resolution in 2014 with the support of a very large number of member states, and the first International Day of Yoga was observed on 21 June 2015.