(Biodiversity Conference) "Kunming Declaration": the road to global biodiversity restoration in the next ten years
China News Service, Kunming, October 14th, title: "Kunming Declaration": The Road to Global Biodiversity Restoration in the Next Decade
China News Agency reporter Ruan Yulin
The first phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations "Convention on Biological Diversity" adopted the "Kunming Declaration" on the 13th.
Chinese scholars pointed out that the "Kunming Declaration" is a declaration of a key conference held at a critical moment of human development, and will have a profound positive impact on the conservation and sustainable development of global biodiversity.
On October 13, China's Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu announced the adoption of the "Kunming Declaration" at the meeting.
Photo by Liu Ranyang
Strong political signal: curbing biodiversity loss
Ren Hai, director of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a reporter from China News Agency that the "Kunming Declaration" is a declaration of a key conference held at a critical moment of human development, and will have a profound positive effect on global biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Influence.
A report released by the World Wide Fund for Nature in 2020 shows that humans are developing and destroying nature on an unprecedented scale.
Since 1970, as humans have pushed the earth's life support system to the edge, the animal population has dropped by an average of 68%.
The assessment shows that driven by excessive human consumption, population growth and intensive agriculture, the number of wild animals in the world is declining sharply.
"If this threat is allowed to continue and human action is not effective, it will cross the earth’s biodiversity threshold and produce irreversible effects. If restoration is to be carried out in the future, the investment will be huge, and the uncertainty of restoration will also be high. , Leading to unsustainable human development, it will be catastrophic, and many disaster sci-fi movie scenes will become reality,” Ren Hai said.
Elizabeth Murema, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, stated that the Kunming Declaration reflects the political will of all parties and sends a strong political signal to the international community to curb biodiversity loss.
The adoption of the "Kunming Declaration" embodies the determination and willingness of all countries to make effective contributions and take effective actions for the protection of global biodiversity.
The “Kunming Declaration” pointed out that the continued loss of biodiversity threatens the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and other international goals. In the past ten years, certain progress has been made under the 2011-2020 Biodiversity Strategic Plan, but it is deeply worrying. However, these advances are not enough to achieve the "Aichi Biodiversity Targets."
Zhang Yongsheng, director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that only by jumping out of the old thinking of the traditional industrial era, through a thorough green transformation of development concepts and development content, we can build a harmonious coexistence of man and nature on the earth. A home earth where the economy and the environment co-progress together, and a home earth where all countries in the world develop together can ensure the coordinated realization of the global biodiversity conservation goals and other environmental resource goals.
Zhang Yongsheng believes that the adoption of the "Kunming Declaration" is not only the result of the efforts of the international community to reverse the current biodiversity loss, but also the beginning of overcoming new and difficult challenges.
The "Kunming Declaration" is a powerful signal that shows the world the political determination to protect global biodiversity. It is also a product of China's leadership in the protection of global biodiversity as the host country of the conference.
17 key words of commitment: mainstreaming and systemic change
The "Kunming Declaration" made 17 specific commitments to ensure the formulation, adoption and implementation of an effective "Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework".
Ren Hai said that the "Kunming Declaration" has 17 commitments, which have repeatedly mentioned mainstreaming and systemic changes. These two keywords are "good medicine" for the problems of past compliance, and they are also a declaration of future actions.
The declaration pointed out that putting biodiversity on the path of restoration is a decisive challenge for this decade. In the context of the United Nations Decade of Action for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, Strong political motivation is needed to formulate, adopt and implement an ambitious and transformative "Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework" that can balance the three goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Gao Jixi, director of the Satellite Environment Application Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, told a reporter from China News Agency that the declaration puts forward two phased goals, including the protection and conservation of 30% of the land and sea area by 2030, and biodiversity is on the road to recovery. And the full realization of "harmonious symbiosis between man and nature" in 2050.
"Biodiversity protection cannot be based on biology, nor can it be realized by a single measure, a single action, a single country, and a single organization. It must play a comprehensive and coordinated role, and it requires a strong political motivation to formulate, adopt, and Implement an ambitious and transformative measure to solve the deterioration of biodiversity and realize the harmonious coexistence of man and nature," said Gao Jixi.
Ren Hai said that according to the "Kunming Declaration", if all parties reach a consensus, a "general revision" can be made to mankind's natural protection route, and systemic changes can be achieved through mainstreaming to formulate the "Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework." , In order to reverse the current loss of biodiversity and ensure that biodiversity is on the path of recovery by 2030 at the latest, so as to fully realize the 2050 vision of "harmonious coexistence between man and nature".
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