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The French ambassador to the environment, Yann Wehrling was visiting Beijing for the International Horticultural Fair. He took the opportunity to meet with Chinese officials in view of the COP15 Biodiversity to be held next year in Kunming, in the south-west of the country. The opportunity to talk about biodiversity in Africa and French environmental sectors to help Siberian cranes in China.
RFI: Why did you come to talk about environment and biodiversity in Beijing?
Yann Wehrling : The environment is a rising topic here in China. Concern for the public opinion, concern of the Chinese power, it is obviously a subject which, for France, is also very important, that is the reason for which I am there. On top of that, they welcome the end of 2020, the COP15 Biodiversity. The point we make with China is that COP21 , COP15 is a very close subject. The climate, the biodiversity, it is related, it is the planet, it is the future of our environment and thus of ourselves, of the humanity. We have to work together to make the COP21 a success for COP15, which must also be a success.
How to work together concretely?
The first point is really to get around the same table, regularly, what we started to do and what we will continue to do, with the French experience and the Chinese goal of having a success, address all topics that need to be addressed. We have a base which is the report of the scientists, the IPBES [Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services], the famous " IPCC of biodiversity ", which gave its report in Paris last April and which gives us recommendations. On the basis of these recommendations, we can move forward on very specific proposals for the entire international community.
There is obviously a very important African presence at this horticultural fair. It is also important that France and Africa are working on this issue of biodiversity?
I was going to say that France and Africa is an old story. China in this relational dynamic plays an important role. China is present in Africa , we have to cross our experiences and our activities, today in Africa, and our support to the African government and to the African populations to just go towards more durability. We have a continent in full development, the challenge is to ensure that this development is not at the expense of the environment. We made mistakes in Europe, the Chinese made mistakes in China, we must make sure that the same mistakes are not made in Africa, there is a wealth of extraordinary biodiversity. There are basically so-called hot-spots of biodiversity, that is to say, places where biodiversity is very important , especially in equatorial forests, in all of central Africa, with Famous species such as elephants or rhinos for example, or giraffes or lions, I will not list all the species that are very numerous and very emblematic. We have a collective interest, it is a common good of humanity, to protect these species, but not to the detriment of the people. All this is a very complex alchemy to succeed in building and it must be done with the Chinese who are very present today in Africa, like the French.
Africa is rich in biodiversity, very rich even, this is the reverse model, it is Africa which is rich, but at the same time it needs to develop. What can the Chinese and France do? It's financial means, it's more than that?
Yes, it is investing in Africa and enabling Africans to have a sustainable mode of development. This is obviously a very complex subject, it is the question of resources. But you know the subject is global, it's international, it's true in South America, in the Amazon. The question of how tomorrow we can have an economy in the world that does not take more resources than the planet can provide is an international issue. And it is particularly true in countries whose development potential is still enormous, where natural resources are very important and fuel a lot of greed. There are minerals, there is forest, there is agriculture ... Our goal, for example France has developed since last year a strategy against imported deforestation, that is to say that we fully assume our role as a rich country in deforestation. That is, every time we buy products from African or South American countries, in places where there are extremely rich tropical forests, we can eventually participate in deforestation So we have to select our activities based on whether or not they participate in deforestation, in full discussion and in full agreement with African countries. The objective is to ensure that the productions made in Africa are made on already deforested lands and that the forests are preserved.
►Also read: [Infographic] The figures of deforestation
There is an urgent climate. Today, one has the impression that it is shared in China as in France. Opinions speak about it, the media talk about it, politicians talk about it. Is it the same for biodiversity or are we starting ?
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron has said several times, now, that the issue of biodiversity should reach a level of interest and importance at least equal to that of climate. It is exactly this line of conduct, internationally, that we conduct our diplomacy. It is important that the issue of biodiversity is taken much more seriously than it is today. Scientists have objectified the question. We are at an extremely important level of alert, almost 40% of species are threatened, one million species are threatened. We are in a hurry and in a maximum alert. 5%, today, mammals of the planet are in the wild, all the rest are humans and our farm animals. Do you see a little bit about the state of biodiversity? She is in a dramatic state. We will have to roll up our sleeves, that we all work together, I mean the international community as a whole and, first and foremost, the most invested countries, France, China, and many others. Fortunately, other countries around the world are now fully aware of the situation.
In fact, for China, I saw posters arriving at the Beijing airport, we see these posters for the protection of endangered species in Africa. Is this something you are talking about with the Chinese?
The subjects are many, but this one is a very important subject. This is poaching, poaching of the most endangered species: elephants, rhinos, giraffes now, more and more species today are in critical danger. There is a problem of poaching, that is to say illegal hunting, which then maintains international traffic, some of which fuel organized crime such as terrorism for example. Today, everyone has an interest in fighting poaching and China has started. This is great news, because we know that often the Chinese market can be targeted as a market for poached species such as ivory, rhinoceros horns. The fact that the Chinese government is campaigning internally in China is extremely important. Obviously, the idea is to sensitize the population who could possibly be a client here or there of powdered rhinoceros horns or ivory objects, that behind there are terrible massacres, and the disappearance of species. It is very important that China do this kind of campaign.
Diversity to protect also in China and especially with French companies or at least with French actors, experts?
France is very committed to China for projects on which it has expertise. In this case, the preservation of natural environments. We accompanied in an ecomuseum project in northern China, near Kangping, an ecomuseum which, very concretely, is a wetland that has been restored. The French Development Agency, AFD, got involved. This wetland, which has been completely restored today, is home to the entire world population of Siberian cranes. The cranes of Siberia, it is a species of which there are only about 4,000 individuals left, it is in critical danger of extinction with such a number, and the whole population of the Siberian cranes comes to rest, rest, two to three months of the year during his migration period. So, it's very important to demonstrate that when a species is critically endangered, we can act to preserve it with operations of this type, it's just giving them a habitat they need to feed and rest.