China’s biodiversity conservation practices provide valuable inspiration to the world
——Interview with Shawmaker, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) was officially held in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on the 19th. Astrid Shoemaker, executive secretary of the Convention Secretariat, said in an interview that day that China's biodiversity conservation practices have provided valuable inspiration to the world. "No one model is suitable for all countries, but China's experience shows that it is important to combine ambitious commitments with a solid scientific foundation, effective systems and long-term investment."
Shoemaker said that China's experience in protected area construction, ecological restoration and biodiversity monitoring is especially reflected in the scale of conservation actions and the inclusion of biodiversity in national development plans. China's ecological protection red line system, national park system, ecological restoration projects and investment in biodiversity monitoring constitute a pragmatic path to implement the country's commitments.
She emphasized that China's experience has three outstanding implications for the world: conservation work must be integrated into broader economic and land use planning; ecological restoration requires continuous investment; and effective monitoring is crucial to measuring results.
Shoemaker said that China's contribution goes beyond domestic practices. "Under the current geopolitical challenges, China's continued support for multilateral cooperation is particularly valuable." She specifically talked about the conclusion of the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" (hereinafter referred to as the "Kunming-Montreal Framework"), praising China's leading role in promoting one of the most important international nature conservation agreements in decades.
Shoemaker said that as the chairman of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP15), China has helped guide complex negotiations between countries with different national conditions, and has worked closely with Canada, the host country of the second phase of COP15, to build consensus for the Kunlun-Mongolia Framework and its 23 goals.
Shoemaker said that four years later, the challenge is to turn this agreement into measurable results. "COP15 gave us a plan, and COP17 will make this plan truly effective."
COP17 will conduct the first global review of the implementation of the "Kunming-Mongolia Framework". Shoemaker said that the first evaluation report on the implementation of the Kunming-Mengzhou Framework shows that the participation of all parties to the Convention is encouraging. However, less than half of the national targets that Parties self-assessed and were consistent with the Kunming-Meng Framework are currently on track.
She said that among the 23 goals of the "Kunming-Mengzhou Framework", the ones that are lagging behind the most involve changes in the economic system, especially those related to corporate impact and information disclosure, sustainable consumption, harmful subsidy reform, and biodiversity fund mobilization; there are also obvious deficiencies in protected area coverage and response to invasive alien species. "The fundamental challenge is that biodiversity conservation cannot be the sole responsibility of the environmental sector." Progress increasingly depends on decisions in finance, agriculture, energy and other economic sectors, she said.
Funding is the key to implementing the Kunming-Mengzhou Framework. Shoemaker pointed out that the core challenge is to ensure that developing countries have sufficient and predictable financing to fulfill their commitments. Developing countries emphasize the need for more international support, while developed countries emphasize broadening sources of funds and improving the effectiveness of fund use. Both aspects are indispensable.
In 2021, China took the lead in establishing the Kunming Biodiversity Fund (hereinafter referred to as the "Kunming Fund") to help developing countries improve their conservation capabilities. Shoemaker said that the Kunming Fund is an important tool to support the work of the Convention. It is specially used to support the implementation of the "Kunming Framework" and make important contributions to international biodiversity cooperation, especially in supporting developing countries. She specifically mentioned that on the basis of funding from the Chinese government, the Kunming Fund has attracted private sector funds to participate, which is "very good news for us."
Parties have agreed to mobilize at least US$200 billion per year for biodiversity conservation by 2030. However, a report by the United Nations Environment Program estimates that for every US$1 invested in protecting nature, about US$30 goes to activities that damage nature.
Shoemaker emphasized that it is not enough to simply increase investment to close the biodiversity funding gap, and subsidies cannot be allowed to flow to activities that are harmful to biodiversity. COP17 needs to make progress in fulfilling financial commitments, improving access to finance, strengthening capacity building, and reforming harmful subsidies and incentives so that economic decisions benefit nature rather than destroy it.
