China to support biodiversity protection in developing countries

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – China on Tuesday said it will establish a Kunming Biodiversity Fund to support biodiversity protection in developing countries.

“To strengthen biodiversity protection, China is moving faster to establish a protected areas system with national parks as the mainstay,” said China’s President Xi Jinping in his video message to the UN Biodiversity Conference, also known as COP 15.

To start with, China will invest $233 million, said Xi as he called for contributions from other countries as well.

Xi said there is a “need to solve the problems brought by industrial civilization, keep human activities within the limits of the ecology and environment, and carry out holistic conservation and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts.”

“We need to build a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system, translate ecological strengths into development strengths, and bring out the great benefit that green mountains and clear waters can offer,” said the Chinese president.

Xi also called for “bettering people’s wellbeing to promote social equity and justice.”

“We shall take international law as the basis to uphold a fair and equitable international governance system,” he said, insisting that multilateralism and honoring international rules be given priority.

“The new environmental protection targets we set need to be ambitious on the one hand and pragmatic and balanced on the other, so as to make the global environmental governance system fairer and more equitable,” he added.