Roundup: international community praises China for leading and promoting global biodiversity conservation (Xinhua)

    Dec 23, 2022 From: Xinhuanet.com

    MONTREAL, Canada, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The international community has praised China for leading and promoting global biodiversity conservation.

    Reported by Xinhuanet reporter Kang Yi, Chen Chen, Lin Wei

    The second phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (hereinafter referred to as "the Framework") in the early morning on Dec 19. Participants believe that the Framework is the most representative and iconic outcome of the Conference, and that China has played a leading role in the adoption of the Framework, making an important contribution to the promotion of global ecological civilization.

This is the scene of the opening ceremony of the second phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity taken on December 7, 2022 in Montreal, Canada. By Ren Pengfei, Xinhua News Agency

    The United Nations Development Program issued a statement welcoming the historic agreement reached at COP15. The statement noted that the adopted Framework includes a number of important objectives that set out the actions that countries must take now to halt the trend of uncontrolled biodiversity loss, as well as how to provide financial support and monitor and report on the Framework's progress.

    Elizabeth Murema, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, told Xinhuanet that China, as the President of COP15, has played a very important and constructive role. China has devoted a lot of time and organized a lot of work to promote the consultation on the framework and bridge the differences between the parties, showing good leadership.

    Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada, said that the historic Framework had been adopted through the cooperation of all parties, facilitated by China. The Framework is an important step forward. "Protecting nature, protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and for that we are very grateful", he said.

    China has been very determined in promoting a global consensus on biodiversity conservation, said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UNEP, in an interview with Xinhuanet. She said China's performance in promoting global biodiversity conservation has been "extraordinary".

    Anderson also said that China has also held the presidency of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat. "At the international level, China has really shown leadership", she commented.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Anderson receives an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet during the second phase of the COP 15 to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada, on Dec. 16, 2022. By Lian Yi, Xinhua News Agency

    Leonardo de Artaide, Brazilian Chief Negotiator for COP15 Phase II and Director of Sustainable Development at the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations, said that China has been assuming a very important leadership role as the Presidency ...... Whether it is in the field of biodiversity or combating climate change, China is becoming an important guardian of the environment in the world.

    Niu Hongwei, director of the Paulson Foundation's Ecological Conservation Program, said she was pleased to see China's leading role in promoting the concept of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature, and was encouraged by China's actions in building an ecological civilization and environmental protection.

    In an interview with Xinhua, Bruno Oberle, director general of IUCN, said the Chinese government has taken the lead in putting forward the concept of ecological civilization and actively shared it with the world, which is China's long-term contribution to the world. Environmental protection, social progress and economic development are interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and China's concept of ecological civilization fits with IUCN's vision, he said.

    Murema said, ecological civilization is the harmony between human beings and our planet, "If we look ahead to 2050, we would like to see the whole world (human beings) living in harmony with nature, and that's what ecological civilization is, it's the connection between human beings and nature, the harmony between human beings and nature." (reporters: Guo Shuang, Lin Xiaochun, Shi Xiaomeng, Huang Yao, Peng Zhuo, Li Xiaopeng)