A pivotal United Nations summit to discuss the protection of biodiversity kicked off in China on Monday.
The summit to discuss pollution and prevent mass extinctions comes weeks before the start of COP26.
Opening the UN Biodiversity Talks today, Han Zheng, Chinese Vice Premier, said that China will include biodiversity protection in development plans for all regions and sectors and draw up a national strategy for protection.
Han urged all countries to seek new financing channels for protection and give full priority to protecting biodiversity in infrastructure and land use.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to deliver a remote speech to the conference on Tuesday.
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Opening the meeting, Elizabeth Aroma Mariama, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Conference on Biological Conservation, said the world had reached a “moment of truth” in terms of protecting its ecosystems.
At the meeting, called COP15, the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will discuss details of a new document that sets goals to protect ecosystems by 2023.
A “30 by 30” plan aimed to put 30% of the land and oceans under protection was discussed, in a move that is supported by a wide range of countries, in addition to the goal of reducing plastic waste.
The COP15 meeting, which started today in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, was scheduled to take place in 2020. But it was postponed due to the Covid epidemic.
About one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction in light of human encroachment on their habitats, overexploitation, pollution, the spread of invasive species and climate change.
195 countries have ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Source: agencies
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