COP15: vice-premier vows more ambitious biodiversity plans for China

Han Zheng declares in conference opening ceremony China will ‘make the protection of biodiversity an important task’
COP15’s aim for specific biodiversity targets helps quantify results and maintain accountability, says director of China’s Institute of Science and Development

Science

Jun Maiin Beijing

Published: 9:30am, 12 Oct 2021

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Beijing pledged to roll out a more ambitious national action plan on biodiversity conservation, as it launched its presidency of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) on Monday.

“We will compose a national strategy and action plan for biodiversity protection for a new period, and make the protection of biodiversity an important task,” Han Zheng, vice-premier and a member of the seven-strong Politburo Standing Committee, said on Monday.

Vice-Premier Han Zheng told the COP15 opening ceremony that more public education on biodiversity would be delivered in China. Photo: AP

He added that biodiversity protection would be incorporated into the mid and long-term planning of all regions in China, and that more public education on biodiversity would be rolled out.

In 2010, China published its Convention on Biological Diversity Strategy and Action Plan (2011-2030). On Friday, Shandong in eastern China became the first province to update its provincial biodiversity action plan for 2011-2030, pledging to speed up local legislation on biodiversity protection, among other tasks.

Han’s commitments were made at the opening of the 2020 UN Biodiversity Conference, which began a week-long meeting on Monday in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming.

The conference has been split into two sessions, with second taking place in the next northern spring when the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are expected to adopt a post-2020 global biodiversity framework that aims to reverse biodiversity loss in this decade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak on Tuesday via video link at the COP15 summit, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Fighting for life: China’s eco gains in focus at COP15

A breakthrough in the COP15 framework is its aim of setting specific targets for biodiversity, according to Wang Yi, director of the Institute of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“We just saw a failed decade on biodiversity because it’s very difficult to quantify a target, without which it’s hard to hold people responsible and finalise details in terms of finance and technology,” said Wang, speaking about the global issue.

“We try to learn from the Paris Agreement, how they quantify carbon emissions, and set the clear target of 30 by 30 – protecting 30 per cent of their land and sea areas [by 2030],” he said referring to the 2015 global climate treaty on climate change.

The COP15 conference is expected to adopt a joint declaration from the high-level segment of the UN Biodiversity Conference 2020 (Part 1). It will note the effects and commitments of many countries to protect 30 per cent of their land and sea areas through well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2030, according to a draft of the declaration published on the conference’s website.

Chinese conservationists call for ‘human-based’ approach to biodiversity

The COP15 conference is being held as China seeks to claim the moral high ground on global environmental governance while facing headwinds with the United States and its allies on a wide range of topics that include geopolitical, economic, technical and human rights issues.

“Multinational corporations are always complicated by issues like technology cooperation, but I think the important thing is we decide on the main direction,” said Wang Yi, the CAS scientist.

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