◆ "Biodiversity makes the earth full of vitality and is also the basis for human survival and development. Protecting biodiversity helps to maintain the earth’s homeland and promote the sustainable development of mankind. " On October 12, 2021, at the leaders’ summit of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader emphasized this.
As early as more than 2,000 years ago, China’s sages put forward the idea that "all things coexist without harming each other" and "heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me", which embodies the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
By constructing a scientific and reasonable nature reserve system, 90% of terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of national key protected wildlife species in China have been effectively protected, and some rare and endangered species have gradually recovered in the wild.
◆ The number of giant pandas increased from 1,114 in the 1970s and 1980s to 1,864; Hainan gibbon, which is extremely endangered, has increased from 7 to 9 at the low valley to more than 30; The crested ibis recovered from 7 at the time of discovery to more than 5,000; Tibetan antelopes have recovered from tens of thousands to more than 300 thousand at present.
In recent ten years, about 200 new species of plants have been discovered annually in China, accounting for 1/10 of the annual increase of new species of plants in the world.
◆ The concept of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" has been widely accepted by China society, which has promoted China’s leading position in biodiversity protection.
◆ Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has promulgated and revised more than 20 biodiversity-related laws and regulations, including the Forest Law, Grassland Law, Fisheries Law, Wildlife Protection Law, Environmental Protection Law, Marine Environmental Protection Law, Seed Law, Wetland Law, Yangtze River Protection Law and Biosafety Law.
◆ Integrated management of landscape, forest, field, lake, grass and sand, China has carried out a series of fundamental, pioneering and long-term work, and the construction of ecological civilization has undergone historic, turning and overall changes from understanding to practice.
◆ Since 2019, China has become the largest donor to the core budget of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols.
◆ The China Declaration on Biodiversity Protection, China’s responsibility and China’s proposition will definitely inject more confidence and motivation into global ecological environment governance.
Wen   | "Outlook" Newsweek reporter   Gao Jing
May 22nd, International Biodiversity Day.
Biodiversity is related to human well-being and an important foundation for human survival and development. As early as more than 2,000 years ago, China’s sages put forward the idea that "all things coexist without harming each other" and "heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me", which embodies the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
China has a vast territory, both land and sea, complex landforms and diverse climate, which breeds rich and unique ecosystems, species and genetic diversity. It is one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world and one of the first parties to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Ecological prosperity leads to civilized prosperity, while ecological decline leads to civilized decline.
"Biodiversity makes the earth full of vitality and is also the basis for human survival and development. Protecting biodiversity helps to maintain the earth’s homeland and promote the sustainable development of mankind. " On October 12, 2021, at the leaders summit of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), the Chairman of the Supreme Leader emphasized this.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the guidance of the supreme leader’s ecological civilization thought, China has adhered to ecological priority and green development, the legal system of ecological environmental protection has been improved day by day, the supervision mechanism has been continuously strengthened, and the basic capacity has been greatly improved. A new pattern of biodiversity governance has basically taken shape, and biodiversity protection has entered a new historical period.
Protection and restoration   the chinese answer
"Look! Come out again! One head, two heads, at least six heads … …” On the afternoon of April 22nd, Xu Jianli, president of Wuhan Xinzhou District Environmental Volunteers Association, once again saw the picture of finless porpoises playing in the water by the Yangtze River.
The Yangtze finless porpoise is a flagship species of biodiversity and an indicator species of ecological health in the Yangtze River. At 0: 00 on January 1, 2021, the 10-year fishing ban in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin was fully launched. Fishermen have landed and finless porpoises are "going home".
The finless porpoise in MengMeng, the naive giant panda, and an orchid in a deep valley … … Biodiversity makes this blue planet very lively.
According to statistics, more than 3 billion people in the world depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihood, and more than 1.6 billion people depend on forest and non-wood forest products for their livelihood. More than 50% of the pharmaceutical ingredients in the world come from natural animals and plants.
However, the global extinction rate is accelerating, and biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation pose great risks to human survival and development. Reports show that about 1 million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction, and many of them will probably become extinct in the next few decades. The current rate of species extinction is several tens to hundreds times higher than the average of the past 10 million years, and it is accelerating.
"We must stand at the height of being responsible for human civilization, respect nature, conform to nature, protect nature, explore the road of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, promote the coordination and unity of economic development and ecological protection, and build a prosperous, clean and beautiful world." On September 30, 2020, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader made an important speech at the United Nations Biodiversity Summit by video, pointing out that.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the guidance of the supreme leader’s ecological civilization thought, China has continuously strengthened the protection and restoration of wildlife and habitats by promoting the construction of nature reserves system and cracking down on illegal trade, and achieved remarkable results in biodiversity protection.
Constantly optimize the local protection system. China actively promotes the establishment of a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body, nature reserves as the basis, and various natural parks as supplements, protects important natural ecosystems and biological resources, and plays an active role in maintaining the habitats of important species — —
In 2021, one of the great "online celebrity" in the animal kingdom will be the wild Asian elephants in Yunnan. Moving from the north to the south, the elephants traveled more than 1,000 kilometers in a roundabout way, and the actions of the China government and the masses to protect elephants won world recognition. Through years of protection, the wild population of Asian elephants in China has increased from 180 in the 1980s to about 300 at present.
On August 12, 2021, Asian elephants entered Mojiang County, Yunnan Province and returned to their traditional habitats. The journey of Yunnan elephants to the north and back reflects the achievements of China in protecting wild animals.
Since 2015, China has successively launched 10 national park system pilots, including Sanjiangyuan. In 2021, the first batch of national parks such as Sanjiangyuan, Giant Panda, Northeast Tiger Leopard, Hainan Rainforest and Wuyishan were officially established.
Up to now, there are nearly 10,000 nature reserves in China, with an area of more than 170 million hectares, accounting for about 18% of the land area, and the goal of reaching 17% by 2020 proposed by the Convention on Biological Diversity has been completed ahead of schedule. The total area of marine nature reserves is 124,000 square kilometers, accounting for about 4.1% of the sea area under the jurisdiction of China.
The red line system of ecological protection is an institutional innovation in China’s land space management and control, which further strengthens the protection of key areas of biodiversity. Since the start of the work in 2014, the area of the national ecological protection red line initially designated by China is not less than 25% of the land area, and areas with extremely important ecological functions such as biodiversity conservation and extremely fragile ecology are included in the ecological protection red line for strict protection.
In September 2019, in the "Nature-based Solutions (NBS)" activity of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, the red line case of ecological protection in China was successfully selected as one of the 15 top-quality cases in the world.
By constructing a scientific and reasonable nature reserve system, 90% of terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of national key protected wild animal and plant species in China have been effectively protected, and some rare and endangered species have gradually recovered in the wild. From south to north, from inland to seashore, more and more rare birds and animals are returning, showing the beauty of nature and ecology.
At present, the number of giant pandas has increased from 1114 in the 1970s and 1980s to 1864. Hainan gibbon, which is extremely endangered, has increased from 7 to 9 at the low valley to more than 30; The crested ibis recovered from 7 at the time of discovery to more than 5,000; Tibetan antelopes have recovered from tens of thousands to more than 300 thousand at present.
On January 28, 2021, Zhu Xi lived on the river stone in the Hanjiang section of Pangwan Village, Huangjinxia Town, Yangxian County, Shaanxi Province. Photo/print by Tao Benyao
Continue to increase ex-situ protection. China has established a relatively complete ex-situ conservation system such as botanical gardens, zoos (including marine parks and aquariums), wildlife rescue and breeding bases, germplasm resources banks and gene banks — —
On April 18th this year, the National Botanical Garden was officially unveiled in Beijing, which marked a new step in biodiversity conservation in China. The National Botanical Garden will focus on collecting more than 30,000 species of native plants in the three northern regions, representative plants in the northern temperate zone, representative plants in different geographical regions around the world and rare and endangered plants, and collect 5 million representative plant specimens from five continents, and build 20 characteristic special gardens, 7 systematic evolution plant exhibition areas and 1 native plant conservation area.
In recent years, China has paid more attention to the protection of germplasm resources, established nearly 200 botanical gardens (arboretums), preserved more than 23,000 species of plants (about 60% of the total number of plants in China), and systematically collected and preserved germplasm resources of endangered plants such as Orchidaceae, Cycas and Magnolia. Some very small populations of wild plants, such as Putuo Carpinus, Huagaimu and Michelia Emei, have initially got rid of the risk of extinction.
A species is a gene pool. In the lush dense forest in the northern suburb of Kunming, more than 10,000 species of plant seeds are preserved in the wildlife germplasm resource bank in southwest China, including Davidia involucrata, Taxus himalayana, Maitreya Gesneria … … Seeds of tens of thousands of wild plants, including many rare and endangered plants, live together in this "Noah’s Ark". This germplasm resource bank, together with Kew Millennium Seed Bank in Britain and Svalbard Global Seed Bank in Norway, has become an important facility for global biodiversity protection.
At present, there are more than 240 zoos (animal exhibition areas) in China, which raise 775 kinds of animals at home and abroad; 250 wild animal rescue and breeding bases have been established, and more than 60 rare and endangered wild animals have been artificially propagated successfully and a stable artificial population has been established.
The national biosafety management capacity has been continuously improved. In recent years, China’s biotechnology has developed healthily, the protection and supervision of biological genetic resources have been continuously strengthened, and the prevention and control mechanism of alien species invasion has been gradually improved — —
Black-backed ant, short-breasted Anoplophora javanica, salvia splendens … … These alien species were intercepted by local customs from passengers’ luggage and mail. In the first quarter of this year, the national customs intercepted 173 species of quarantine pests and 13,900 times.
While strengthening port prevention and control and strictly preventing the invasion of alien species, China has made great efforts to improve the safety management of genetically modified organisms and strengthen the supervision of biological genetic resources. In recent years, relevant departments have organized and carried out the national survey of traditional Chinese medicine resources, the national survey and collection of agricultural germplasm resources, the survey of livestock and poultry genetic resources, and the survey of forest and grass germplasm resources & HELIP; … Find out the background of biological genetic resources and the distribution, protection and utilization of important biological genetic resources.
In recent ten years, about 200 new species of plants have been discovered annually in China, accounting for 1/10 of the annual increase of new species of plants in the world.
Systematic treatment   Chinese wisdom
May 5, Sanjiangyuan National Park. The first batch of 137 female Tibetan antelopes headed for Zhuonaihu Tibetan Antelope Aggregation, Hoh Xil, where they gave birth, through the animal passage of Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Qinghai-Tibet Highway. The annual large-scale migration of Tibetan antelopes in Hoh Xil began.
"The continuous improvement of the living conditions of the Tibetan antelope population is one of the successful cases of human participation in species protection." Lian Xinming, a researcher at Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology, China Academy of Sciences.
The story of Tibetan antelope, the "plateau elf", is like a microcosm, witnessing the wisdom of China in biodiversity conservation.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s biodiversity protection has been aimed at building a beautiful China, actively adapting to the new situation and new requirements, upgrading biodiversity protection to a national strategy, improving the system of policies and regulations, promoting the organic combination of biodiversity protection and improving people’s livelihood, making overall plans to promote the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, and constantly improving the capacity of biodiversity management.
Adhere to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and actively promote the mainstream process of biodiversity protection with national strategy — —
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader has personally planned and arranged the deployment of major biodiversity protection projects, and made biodiversity an important part of ecological civilization construction, rising to a national strategy.
On September 11th, 2015, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting to review and approve the Overall Plan of Ecological Civilization System Reform, which became the top-level design of China’s ecological civilization reform.
Cui Shuhong, director of the Department of Natural Ecological Protection of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, felt particularly deeply about the process of mainstreaming biodiversity protection. He introduced that in recent years, China has included biodiversity protection in the important agenda of government departments, and clearly established that "the rate of biodiversity loss has been basically controlled and the stability of the national ecosystem has been significantly enhanced" as one of the main goals of ecological civilization construction, and gradually incorporated into various planning plans at all levels.
The Tenth Five-Year Plan and the Outline of the Long-term Goals for 2035 will systematically deploy the implementation of major biodiversity protection projects and the construction of biodiversity protection networks as the key tasks to improve the quality and stability of ecosystems.
Accelerate the construction of the system of ecological civilization system and build a system of "four beams and eight pillars" for the protection of thousands of vegetation — —
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has promulgated and revised more than 20 biodiversity-related laws and regulations, including the Forest Law, Grassland Law, Fisheries Law, Wildlife Protection Law, Environmental Protection Law, Marine Environmental Protection Law, Seed Law, Wetland Law, Yangtze River Protection Law and Biosafety Law, covering the fields of wildlife and important ecosystem protection, biosafety, and access and benefit sharing of biogenetic resources.
On February 24th, 2020, the 16th meeting of the 13th the NPC Standing Committee adopted the Decision on Completely Banning the Illegal Wildlife Trade, Eliminating the Bad Habit of Eating Wild Animals, and Effectively Protecting People’s Life, Health and Safety. A series of policies and regulations, medium and long-term plans and action plans provide a solid institutional guarantee for biodiversity protection and management.
Adhere to Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, promote the organic combination of biodiversity protection and improving people’s livelihood — —
Hu Bin, a villager from Yucun, Tianhuangping Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, is a native. In the early years of the village, the sight of mountains digging, guns rumbling and dust all over the sky was the deepest memory of his childhood.
In 2005, the supreme leader, then secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, visited Yucun and put forward the scientific conclusion of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets".
Yucun, who has firmly practiced this important concept, has now taken on a new look. With the closure of the mine to restore the ecology, Yucun now has scenery in all seasons. Five years ago, Hu Bin, who had worked hard outside for many years, opened an inn in his hometown.
From "selling stones" to "selling scenery", the two-way transformation from "green mountains and green hills" to "Jinshan Yinshan" has been realized, which reflects the historic change of China’s green development concept.
Explore the gross product accounting of ecosystem, expand the horizontal ecological compensation of river basin, and vigorously develop the green ecological industry … … All localities have explored the two-way transformation between "green mountains and green hills" and "Jinshan Yinshan", and ecological protection and economic development have embarked on a win-win road.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Inge Annosson, said that the concept of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" has been widely accepted by China society, which has promoted China’s leading position in biodiversity conservation.
Adhere to the concept of system and make overall plans to promote the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand — —
Mountains and rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand are inseparable communities of life.
In November, 2013, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader put forward that "landscape, forest, fields and lakes are a community of life" in the explanation of "the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Decision on Comprehensively Deepening Reform". After that, this important exposition was continuously enriched and expanded, and "grass" and "sand" were added in 2017 and 2021 respectively, with a view to adhering to the system concept and proceeding from the integrity of the ecosystem, promoting the integrated protection and restoration of grass and sand in landscape, forest, field and lake, and improving the stability and sustainability of the ecosystem.
A series of major ecological projects, such as shelterbelts in the Three North Areas, natural forest protection, and returning farmland to forests and grasslands, have been further promoted; Accelerate the establishment of a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body; The system of river length and lake length has been fully established, and rivers and lakes have their own guardians … … Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has taken a series of fundamental, pioneering and long-term work to control the grass and sand in landscape, forest, fields, lakes and lakes, and the construction of ecological civilization has undergone historic, turning and overall changes from recognition to practice.
In recent years, based on major biodiversity protection projects, China has carried out comprehensive biodiversity survey and assessment. At present, China’s biodiversity situation has been basically clarified, and the investigation and assessment of coastal wetland ecosystems with biodiversity background of nearly 180 counties and over 3,500 kilometers have been completed. China has initially formed a national biodiversity observation network, established 749 observation sample areas, laid out 11,887 sample lines and points, and built a species distribution database with 2,376 county-level administrative units and observation sample lines exceeding 34,000 kilometers.
The secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity released the fifth edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook in September 2020, in which 13 times showed China’s successful experience in biodiversity conservation. China’s wisdom and China’s plan, which are the unity of heaven and man and the nature of Taoism, have won world recognition.
Earth Home   China takes responsibility.
Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park is full of lush forests and refreshing green.
On April 11th, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader visited Hainan, went deep into Wuzhishan area, walked along the wooden plank road to inspect the ecological environment of the park, stopped from time to time, and asked about tree growth, water conservation, animal and plant resources protection and so on.
"Hainan tropical rain forest does not belong to Hainan alone, it belongs to the people of the whole country, it belongs to the earth and it is a national treasure." General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that Hainan should persist in establishing an ecological province, take the construction of ecological civilization as the top priority, strictly protect the tropical rain forest, realize the unity of ecological protection, green development and improvement of people’s livelihood, and show the world the fruitful achievements of China’s national park construction and biodiversity protection.
Biodiversity protection is advocated by China Declaration, China and China.
Building consensus and building a community of life on earth is the China Declaration — —
At present, mankind stands at the crossroads of protecting biodiversity and realizing global sustainable development. The earth is the common home of mankind. Faced with global challenges such as the loss of biodiversity, all countries are a community of destiny in the same boat.
On October 12, 2021, at the leaders’ summit of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "The international community should strengthen cooperation, think with one heart and make efforts to build a community of life on earth."
The "Kunming Declaration" put forward by China and widely agreed by all parties was formally adopted at the high-level meeting. The declaration promises to ensure the formulation, adoption and implementation of an effective "global biodiversity framework after 2020" to reverse the current trend of biodiversity loss and ensure that biodiversity will be on the road to recovery by 2030 at the latest, so as to fully realize the 2050 vision of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
The large-scale painted works in the press center of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity show the beautiful ecological environment and rich biodiversity (photo taken on October 12, 2021).
It is China’s responsibility to firmly fulfill the contract and participate in global biodiversity governance — —
As an important participant and contributor to the global biodiversity protection, China actively implements the Convention and its protocols, provides solutions for the world, and fully demonstrates the responsibility of big countries.
Since 2019, China has become the largest donor to the core budget of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols. China has become the largest donor of developing countries to the Global Environment Facility.
In May 2016, the United Nations Environment Programme released the report "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets: Strategy and Action of Ecological Civilization in China". The construction of ecological civilization in China has become a useful exploration and concrete practice of the concept of sustainable development, providing experience for other countries to deal with similar economic, environmental and social challenges.
These China practices have condensed China’s wisdom and further released a strong signal to the world that China will unswervingly follow the road of green development.
China advocates extensive cooperation to jointly safeguard the earth’s homeland — —
In Sino-Russian cross-border nature reserves, the number of species continues to grow, and wild Siberian tigers begin to migrate freely between Sino-Russian nature reserves.
In the Sino-Laos Cross-border Biodiversity Joint Protection Zone, this "promised land" with an area of 200,000 hectares has effectively protected rare and endangered species such as Asian elephants and their habitats.
At the 15th Leaders’ Summit of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader solemnly announced that China would take the lead in setting up the Kunming Biodiversity Fund with a capital of 1.5 billion yuan to support biodiversity conservation in developing countries.
The China Declaration on Biodiversity Protection, China’s responsibility and China’s proposition will certainly inject more confidence and motivation into global ecological environment governance.
According to the previous arrangement, the second phase of COP15 will continue to be held in Kunming this year, and will discuss the "Global Biodiversity Framework after 2020" and jointly draw a blueprint for global biodiversity protection in the next 10 years or even longer.
It is expected that this meeting will adopt an ambitious, balanced and pragmatic "framework", which will really help countries to look after each other, walk hand in hand, win-win cooperation and build a community of life on earth.
If you do not stop, the future can be expected. Standing at a new starting point, the international community will walk hand in hand, and we will certainly be able to build a beautiful earth home together.
Published in the 21st issue of Outlook in 2022.
