On May 20, 2022, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng attended and delivered a speech at the International Day for Biological Diversity Event 2022 online.
Xie Feng said, three decades ago, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development started a new journey for mankind to explore sustainable development. The past thirty years have been a journey of productive cooperation. The international community has made positive progress in the formulation of environmental rules and international cooperative governance, but we still face severe and urgent challenges such as biodiversity loss, global warming and land degradation. Against this background, the theme of this year's International Day for Biological Diversity, "Building a shared future for all life on Earth", is of great practical significance.
Xie Feng said, at the Leaders' Summit of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October last year, President Xi Jinping stressed that the international community must enhance cooperation, build consensus and pool strength to build a community of all life on Earth. As the host of COP15, China is committed to contributing wisdom and strength to global environmental governance.
First, China practices true multilateralism and shows its responsibility as a major country. The rules for all should be formulated and obeyed by all. Last year, China successfully hosted the first part of the COP15. At the meeting, President Xi Jinping announced China's initiative to establish a Kunming Biodiversity Fund, to support biodiversity protection in developing countries. At present, China is actively preparing for the second part to promote all parties to reach an agreement on the "Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework" and promote global biodiversity governance to a new level.
Second, China continues to promote green development and offer Chinese solutions. True development is development for all and high-quality development is sustainable. China has actively promoted a green Belt and Road and built a platform for and injected impetus into global green development with concrete actions. Last year, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which aims to achieve more robust, greener and more balanced global development, and speed up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The GDI has received rapid endorsement and support from the United Nations and nearly 100 countries.
Third, China has actively carried out South-South cooperation and demonstrated its contribution. Since 2011, China has allocated a total of 1.2 billion yuan for South-South cooperation on climate change response, and trained about 2,000 technical personnel in the field of climate change response for nearly 120 developing countries. From remote sensing satellites for climate monitoring in Africa to low-carbon demonstration zones in Southeast Asia and to energy-efficient devices in small island countries, China's solid efforts to advance green aid have yielded real and practical results.
At last, Xie Feng said that China will continue to unswervingly follow the path of green development, hold high the banner of multilateralism, actively participate in global biodiversity governance, work with all parties to promote the building of global ecological civilization and jointly build a shared future for all life on Earth.
This event was hosted by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEE) in Beijing both online and offline. Secretary of the Leading Party Members Group of the MEE Sun Jinlong, leaders of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and Yunnan Province as well as responsible officials of some international organizations in China and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity attended the event and delivered remarks.