Source: People's Daily
From 7 to 19 December, the second phase of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) was held in Montreal, Canada, where the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity is located. With the theme of "Ecological Civilization: Building a Community of Life on Earth", COP15 aims to formulate and adopt the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (hereinafter referred to as the "framework"), and draw a blueprint for global biodiversity governance in the next 10 years or beyond.
As the presidency of COP15, China has actively played a leading and coordinating role in promoting the framework negotiation process, making positive contributions to global biodiversity conservation. The international community generally expects COP15 to condense the broadest consensus of the international community and promote global biodiversity governance to a new level.
"Opportunities to protect and restore the web of life"
Biodiversity is the foundation for human survival and development, and the bloodline and foundation of the community of life on earth. At a welcoming ceremony on the eve of the second phase of COP15, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that global ecosystem degradation is estimated to cost $3 trillion a year by 2030 and that the conference urgently needs to adopt a framework. Guterres called on developed countries to provide financial support to countries in the Global South.
"This conference is our opportunity to protect and restore the web of life." UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said we need to see an ambitious, proven framework with clear targets and benchmarks.
"COP15 is a historic opportunity to address these challenges in the context of increasing issues such as accelerated biodiversity loss." Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF, said China's role in the framework negotiations was very important and he was optimistic that all parties would reach a framework.
According to Anthony López, editor-in-chief of the Philippine Asian Business Week, biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental damage are common crises facing the world, and China has actively promoted the COP15 process and contributed to the achievement of the framework. "It is expected that this meeting can gather consensus among all parties and promote joint action to promote global biodiversity conservation."
"Biodiversity conservation is inherently linked to sustainable development goals such as climate change, food security and poverty reduction." Florin Stanica, Vice President of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest, Romania, said that the continuous advancement of the COP15 process demonstrates China's responsibility as a responsible major country, and also reflects the determination and action of all parties to work together to deal with the biodiversity crisis. "This meeting is crucial to reversing biodiversity loss, and China's green development concepts and rich practices will inspire all countries."
"Expect solidarity between developed and developing countries"
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has grasped the construction of ecological civilization with unprecedented intensity, attached great importance to biodiversity conservation, firmly established and practiced the concept that green waters and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains, elevated biodiversity conservation to a national strategy, implemented a series of powerful measures, and achieved remarkable results.
Shrestha, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal, said that in recent years, China has attached great importance to ecological protection and green development, and has made remarkable achievements in the fields of green economy, clean energy and environmental governance, which are worth learning from many developing countries.
Carlos Aquino, Director of the Center for Asian Studies at the National University of San Marcos, Peru, has visited China many times to witness China's great achievements in ecological civilization construction and praise China's green development concept. "As one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world, China can provide the world with experience in biodiversity conservation, pollution prevention and control, and clean energy development."
"In the past 10 years, China has made great achievements in environmental governance and ecological protection, especially the remarkable results of air pollution control and the obvious improvement of ambient air quality." Marek Traczyk, chairman of the Polish Media Association, noted that China has classified more than 25% of its land area as an ecological protection redline area, and announced that it will strive to achieve carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. "China plays an important role in global environmental governance, and COP15 is a good opportunity to promote the building of a community of life on earth."
Chinese enterprises actively participate in biodiversity conservation, improve economic, social and ecological benefits simultaneously, and create many excellent ecological protection projects. According to Liu Chunxi, CEO of Yili Group, by the end of 2021, Yili's "integration of cultivation and breeding" project had covered 272 cooperative farms, and 23 branches had been rated as national "green factories" by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. "China's dairy industry has shown the vitality of green development and has become an important force for biodiversity conservation."
Somari Champ, Deputy Secretary-General of Cambodia's Ministry of Environment, said that Cambodia appreciates China's promotion of the COP15 process and expects China to gather more international consensus and achieve more pragmatic and concrete results at the conference. "The biodiversity crisis is one of the many challenges facing mankind, and China has made great achievements in the field of ecological civilization construction. It is expected that developed and developing countries will unite and make more contributions to international cooperation on biodiversity conservation. ”
"Jointly promote the construction of global ecological civilization with all parties"
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. International public opinion believes that if this meeting can promote the framework agreement, it will greatly promote the global biodiversity governance process.
"As the presidency of COP15, China is striving to build a fair, reasonable and win-win global biodiversity governance system." Ignacio Martínez, an expert on international issues at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said that by promoting South-South cooperation and jointly building a green "Belt and Road", China has helped developing countries improve their ability to cope with climate change, actively safeguard the interests of developing countries, and strengthen technology and experience exchanges with international partners.
Kritan Bahana, editor-in-chief of South Africa's Foreign Affairs magazine, believes that China, as the presidency of COP15, plays a key role in global biodiversity governance. "China speaks on behalf of developing countries and promotes the enhancement of the representation and voice of developing countries, which is to safeguard the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter."
Professor Karoli Hrutko, Faculty of Horticultural Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has been committed to Hungarian-Chinese agricultural cooperation for many years, witnessed China's achievements in biodiversity conservation and green agricultural development, and highly appreciated China's ecological poverty alleviation model. "China's desertification control and afforestation projects are amazing," he said. China's successful experience shows that economic development and ecological protection can be coordinated and mutually reinforcing, which has brought enlightenment to many developing countries. ”
Wesley Douglas, director of the African Carbon Exchange, said that China actively implements the Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocols and continues to promote biodiversity conservation. "From the perspective of promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, China deeply participates in global biodiversity governance and works with all parties to promote the construction of global ecological civilization, which is an expression of long-term development. It is believed that China will continue to play an important role in this field. ”