China
2021.08.18 22:25 GMT+8

China's Kunming City to host first session of COP15 from Oct. 11 to 15

Updated 2021.08.18 22:25 GMT+8
Gong Zhe

A child watches animal photos during a biodiversity expo in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 21, 2021. /CFP

The United Nations (UN) biodiversity conference has been divided into two sessions, with the first being held between October 11 to 15 in China's Kunming City, an official from China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) said on Wednesday.

Participants living in the Chinese mainland can attend the first session in person while those who live outside of the area will have to attend online.

The second session, however, is a fully in-person event held in the same city in the first half of 2022.

The conference, with the full name of 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was initially scheduled in 2020 but postponed twice.

The CBD plans to release a document called the Kunming Declaration after the first session, which will also include an opening ceremony, keynote speech of officials, high-level meetings and other discussions.

A forum about ecological civilization and an expo will also be held during the first session.

For the second session in 2022, the related parties will discuss more topics around biodiversity and reach a framework that is both ambitious and practical, according to the official.

The Chinese side will work with all other parties to overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and try to make the event meaningful, the MEE official said.

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