On 22 October, the Star, Bitau News, Mercury news and Cape Times published a signed article by Ambassador Chen Xiaodong entitled "Working   Together to Build a Community for Life on Earth". The full text is as follows:

 

A few days ago, the convention on biological diversity 15th the conference of the parties summit held in kunming, China, the Chinese President xi jinping, titled "jointly build a community of life on earth" keynote speeches, inject confidence for advancing the global ecological civilization construction, the global biodiversity management direction for the future, to outline a blueprint for clean beautiful world together.

In his speech, President Xi jinping stressed the concept of building a community of life on earth, and proposed for the first time three visions of building a "home planet", namely, a home where man and nature coexist in harmony, a home where economy and the environment advance in synergy, and a home where all countries develop together. We have put forward a four-point proposal to embark on a new journey of high-quality development for mankind, and solemnly declared that China will continue to promote ecological progress, demonstrating China's active role and historical responsibility as a participant, contributor and leader in the global ecological progress.

China is taking actions to lead sustainable development with the concept of ecological civilization. China has written the concept of ecological progress and the promotion of ecological progress into the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological progress and guided by the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, China has taken green and low-carbon energy development as the key, implemented the new development concept, and adhered to the path of green and low-carbon development that gives priority to ecology. China has set the goal of achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2060, and pledged not to build any new overseas coal power projects. The concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" has become the consensus of the whole society.

Before the Copenhagen, China issued a white paper on "China biodiversity conservation, comprehensive introduction in the form of white paper for the first time China's work in the field of biodiversity conservation, focusing on China biodiversity conservation ideas, actions and results, summarized the practice and experience of China biodiversity conservation We will stimulate the enthusiasm of the whole society for biodiversity conservation and make the concept of ecological civilization more popular.

China is taking action to protect biodiversity with strong policies and measures. As one of the first parties to sign and ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity, China has constantly improved its laws, regulations and working mechanisms related to biodiversity conservation. It has promulgated and revised the Environmental Protection Law, Wildlife Protection Law, Animal Husbandry Law, Fisheries Law, Forestry Law, Grassland Law, Marine Environmental Protection Law, Regulations on Nature Reserves, and Regulations on Wild Plant Protection.

China has stepped up monitoring and inspection of illegal activities that damage and endanger biodiversity, and has been tracking and evaluating the progress of the implementation of the China Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2011-2030). Thanks to unremitting efforts, the area of desertification in China has changed from 10,400 square kilometers to 2,424 square kilometers per year, and 90 percent of vegetation types and terrestrial ecosystems, 65 percent of higher plant communities and 85 percent of wildlife populations under key protection have been effectively protected. For example, the threat level of China's "national treasure" panda has been downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable".

China is taking action to mobilize broad social participation in a new governance model. We should coordinate the harmonious development of man and nature, integrate biodiversity protection into all aspects and the whole process of economic and social development, and promote the mainstream of biodiversity. In recent years, China's environmental ngos have flourished, and the public's awareness of environmental protection has increased significantly, making great contributions to biodiversity conservation. In 2017, 23 Chinese non-governmental organizations jointly launched the "Social Public Protection Area Alliance", which aims to use the power of the private sector to explore new governance models such as community governance, public welfare governance and joint governance, aiming to help protect at least 1 percent of China's land area by 2030.

Recently, a herd of Asian elephants crossed over half of Yunnan province in China, and people from all walks of life escorted the herd safely. As the Financial Times notes, the elephants' ability to move undisturbed through villages represents a step forward for conservation in China. This epitomizes the importance Chinese society attaches to wildlife conservation and biodiversity.

China is taking action and taking an active part in global environmental governance as a responsible major country. President Xi Jinping announced at the Summit that China will invest 1.5 billion yuan to set up the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, making a solid commitment and contribution to building a global community of life. Over the years, China has actively promoted international cooperation on building a green Belt and Road. Together with Chinese and foreign partners, China launched the Belt and Road International Alliance for Green Development. Guiyang International Forum on Ecological Civilization, which has been held for 11 years, has become an important platform for gathering wisdom, innovating ideas, building consensus and educating the public on ecological civilization. China has also actively carried out international cooperation in investigating and dealing with illegal and criminal cases involving wildlife. China takes ecological protection as one of the main areas of cooperation between China and Africa, and arranges to provide relevant countries with biodiversity protection equipment and other projects. Training courses on biodiversity conservation will be held to train officials and technicians from developing countries in wildlife conservation and ecological and environmental protection. In 2017, China's Alibaba Foundation and Taohuayuan Ecological Conservation Foundation jointly established the "African Reserve Rangers Award Fund" to support wildlife conservation in Africa by rewarding rangers and providing technical support.

Like China, South Africa is one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world, with land and sea and diverse climate. Preventing and cracking down on smuggling, poaching and harvesting of rare wildlife and their products is an important part of cooperation between governments and law enforcement departments in South Africa and China. Over the years, law enforcement agencies of the two countries have maintained close cooperation in combating smuggling of ivory, rhino horn and rare plants. Chinese embassies and consulates in South Africa also held by wildlife protection BBS, charity sale benefit, adopt a rhino, a variety of forms such as announcement ascension zhongnan people to protect wild animals and plants together sense and consciousness, and require to citizens in south China sea and south China tourists strictly abide by local laws and regulations, it is forbidden to random picking wild plants, jointly protect endangered natural resources.

Let China, South Africa and all parties work together to uphold harmony between man and nature, respect, conform to and protect nature, strengthen global cooperation on biodiversity conservation, lay the foundation for ecological progress, pursue green development and build a better world.