On the afternoon of November 5, President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands held in Wuhan via video link and delivered a speech titled “Protecting Wetlands for Our Future and Scaling up Wetlands Action Across the World”.

President Xi Jinping noted that since ancient times, human beings have always preferred to live close to water bodies, and civilizations have taken shape near water bodies. There has been a close link between wetlands and how humans live and work. This meeting gives us an opportunity to raise awareness, strengthen cooperation, and scale up wetlands action across the world.

— It is important that we build global consensus on prizing wetlands, show our respect for nature, minimize disruption and damage caused by human activities, and protect the ecological security of wetlands, in order to leave the beautiful wetlands to our future generations.

— It is important that we advance the global process on wetlands conservation, redouble efforts to preserve authenticity and integrity, include more important wetlands in nature reserves, improve cooperation mechanisms and platforms, and increase the coverage of wetlands of international importance.

— It is important that we enhance people’s well-being globally by leveraging the role of wetlands in promoting sustainable development, tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity, and delivering more benefits to people around the world.

President Xi Jinping noted that historic achievements have been made in wetlands conservation in China. China has put in place a protection system, and enacted a Wetlands Conservation Law. China will pursue a modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and promote high-quality development in the wetlands conservation cause. China has recently drawn up a layout plan of national parks. Under the plan, China will designate a number of national parks, and about 11 million hectares of wetlands will be incorporated in the national park system. A national wetlands conservation plan and major conservation projects will be implemented. China will promote international exchanges and cooperation and build an international mangrove center in Shenzhen. China supports the convening of a conference of the World Coastal Forum. Let us join hands to write a new chapter in global wetlands conservation.