The high-level segment of the second part of the 15th meeting of the Conference 
of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) concluded in 
Montreal, Canada, on Saturday.

The meeting has played a very important role in promoting the negotiation 
process of the COP15, said Huang Runqiu, COP15 president and China's minister 
of ecology and environment.

"China will continue to play its role while holding the COP15 presidency to 
help form synergy from all parties, close gaps and build consensus to reach an 
ambitious, realistic and balanced framework that the international community 
has been expecting," he added.

"We must work together to promote harmonious co-existence between man and 
Nature, build a community of all life on the Earth, and create a clean and 
beautiful world for us all," said Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening 
ceremony of the high-level segment earlier on Thursday.

According to Huang, the address made by Xi is inspirational to the negotiators. 
A total of 190 representatives made active contributions to the development of 
the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. They expressed a strong political 
will to reach an adoption and implementation of it.     

China has promoted ecological progress and biodiversity protection. "We have 
found a path of biodiversity protection with Chinese characteristics," Xi said.

On December 13, the United Nations has recognized China's "Shan-Shui 
Initiative" to restore 10 million hectares of ecosystems across the country as 
one of 10 pioneering projects to preserve the nature. The initiative honored as 
World Restoration Flagship. This ambitious initiative combines 75 large-scale 
projects, from mountains to coastal estuaries, across the world's most populous 
nation.

Since the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), China has 
implemented 44 projects of "Shan-Shui Initiative," and completed ecological 
protection and restoration of more than 3.5 million hectares.

According to the white paper on Biodiversity Conservation, China has set up 10 
pilot programs for the national park system since 2015, covering an area of 2.2 
million hectares. A variety of endangered species, such as giant pandas and 
Tibetan antelopes, are well protected in the area. Besides, China has 
established nearly 10,000 nature reserves, accounting for about 18 percent of 
the total land area. 

So far, nearly 200 botanical gardens and 250 wildlife rescue and breeding bases 
were established, with approximately 23,000 plant species and over 60 
endangered animal species preserved.

In the future, China will continue to advance ecological progress, and plan its 
development in the context of promoting harmonious co-existence between man and 
Nature, Xi said.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-12-18/China-to-continue-promoting-post-2020-biodiversity-framework--1fRU1qjSIZa/index.html


Source CGTN

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