Photo courtesy of Cheng Chen Shanshui Community Conservation Project: Promoting community-based grassland restoration in the Jiatang grassland.
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) not only brought together world leaders and negotiators, but also NGOs and civil society representatives to discuss global climate change issues and find solutions to this critical issue of human survival. UN News interviewed an observer from a Chinese NGO to listen to Du Jia's interview with Cheng Chen of the Shanshui Conservation Center.
Cheng Chen: "Shanshui Conservation Center is a local NGO (non-governmental organization) in China that focuses on biodiversity conservation and research. I am currently the project director of the Shanshui Nature Observation Project. ”
As a nature conservation advocate and biodiversity promoter, Cheng Chen first noted at this year's climate conference that the topic of nature conservation has been included in the priority of the climate conference for the first time, showing that nature-based solutions are essential to mitigating the climate crisis.
Cheng Chen: "Among the themes of this climate summit, there is a special theme of nature. There are many heads of state and non-governmental organizations that constantly mention the relationship between climate and nature, including that climate and nature cannot be solved alone, and climate and biodiversity conservation belong to the same war. We must stand together in support of nature-positive solutions. This is a very high level of connection between nature and climate, and a full recognition of the importance of nature conservation and nature in climate change action.
"One of the very core outcomes of this climate conference is the first global stocktake. I went to Xi how many times nature is mentioned and how it is mentioned in the global inventory. These include ensuring the integrity of forests, oceans, mountains, cryospheres, all these ecosystems, and protecting the biodiversity that some cultures consider Mother Earth. The 'Mother Earth' argument has been very successful in entering the first global stocktake of climate change. It is mainly reflected in two parts: mitigation and adaptation.
"In addition, in the Global Stocktake, it emphasizes a comprehensive and synergistic approach to addressing the interrelated global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, not as separate crises, but as the two most relevant crises. ”
Photo courtesy of Cheng Chen, Shanshui Yunnan team leader Zhou Jiading shared the case of ecological restoration community climate change adaptation projects at the Dubai Climate Conference.
Cheng Chen noted in particular the role of civil society organizations in the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Cheng Chen: "The role of observers is still very large. On the one hand, in the negotiation process, and on the other hand, in these colorful side events, in fact, observers played a particularly large role.
"In the negotiation process, there are a lot of NGOs who have been following the negotiation process for maybe as long as a decade, and they have some observations and experiences about each progress and lessons learned from the negotiations, and they will have a better understanding of what is the difference between this time - the 28th General Assembly and the previous one. I've also found that there are some NGOs that actually contribute a lot to the content of the national negotiators' speeches.
"Outside of negotiations, we have a lot of side events. In fact, it is all a process of expressing opinions, presenting results, and advocating together. For example, the China Corner also plays an extremely important role in the side events of different themes and different participants that take place every day. I have also observed that some NGOs in the international community will also have some results that are ahead of the climate conference to be published. In fact, these are also able to give the participants, including negotiators from various countries, some new inspiration and some new references, and find information and clues for some future directions. ”
Photo courtesy of Cheng Chen Shanshui Community Conservation Project: Winter field survey in the Tianjun area of Qilian Mountain National Park.
Non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations have been actively participating in the practice of climate governance and environmental protection, and play a unique role in the process of global sustainable development.
Cheng Chen: "First of all, in terms of policymaking. When it comes to policymaking, CSOs are observers, proposers, and even active advocates of solutions to improve policies.
"In fact, some NGOs dedicated to biodiversity conservation and environmental protection, including the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center, are trying to speak out, observe, and participate in policy making. In fact, the government now has a process and management methods for information disclosure and opinion collection in both legislation and policy formulation at all levels, which also leaves a good space for non-governmental organizations to participate in the norms.
"In addition to the policy, I think there are several advantages to being an NGO. The first is direct access to the public. On the public side, for example, when it comes to raising awareness or changing behavior, NGOs are actually very good tentacles.
"In addition, because of the nature of NGOs, they can connect different fields and build bridges of dialogue. The Nature Observation Project is one example. We need to deal with people from different fields across borders, to discuss together, to discover and discuss problems, and to explore solutions.
"The third point is that NGOs are actually a body that can integrate all kinds of different and multi-party resources. For example, in some public welfare ecological protection projects, we will have the participation of local communities, the participation of enterprises, the participation of local governments, the participation of the government, and the participation of the public. Bringing together the different stakeholders in a project and allowing them to play to their strengths is also a role that NGOs often play. ”
Photo courtesy of Cheng Chen Shanshui Community Protection Project: Promoting the construction of a bear prevention fence pilot in Yunta Village, Yushu.
As an observer of an NGO dedicated to nature conservation, Cheng Chen highlighted the new trends and inspirations he found at the climate change conference, which can provide new directions for future work.
Cheng Chen: "I also made a discovery at this summit: renewable energy is actually a topic that we are very concerned about this year. Many countries have already found that large amounts of land use in energy transition actions, such as wind and photovoltaic power, also have the potential to have an impact on biodiversity. The premise of not having an impact is to be able to better select the site of the project.
"This time I've actually seen that some organizations in Europe and the United States have released some of the site selection tools that they have developed before. In fact, through the accumulation of a large number of surveys, such information analysis and tools have been obtained. This time, they released their updates at the conference, and even launched some collaborative alliances to promote the global process of biodiversity-friendly renewable energy.
Photo courtesy of Cheng Chen: Landscape Nature Observation Biodiversity Mainstreaming Project: Conducting field research on the coordinated development of clean energy and biodiversity in western China.
"So after I also observed, back in China, we are also thinking about our localized solutions, and exploring how to better reach relevant stakeholders, which can play a positive role in promoting it. In fact, this is also a question of how to coordinate the response to climate change and biodiversity conservation at the macro level.
"Another important clue is that while taking measures to mitigate the impact, it will not necessarily have an impact on the bottom line of the company's bottom line. In some countries, including Egypt, although they have taken avoidance measures and mitigation measures, it may have changed the equipment, but in the end it did not have a big impact on its total costs and profits. So it's all the more proof that we care about the problem and the solution is actually a win-win situation, and we don't care about one or the other.
"So we went out this time, and one of the very detailed gains is that we hope to invite some successful cases from the world to share them in China, so that everyone can know that this is a thing that can benefit both parties. This can also become a more important direction for our international cooperation. ”
The above is an interview with Cheng Chen, project director of the Shanshui Conservation Center, by Du Jia, a special correspondent of UN News.
