An exhibition at Beijing's Botanical Garden is zooming in on guardians of the natural world. CGTN's Tao Yuan brings us this report. 

Shifting focus from wildlife to its protectors.

This exhibition focuses on biodiversity scientists, conservationists, wildlife photographers and indigenous people working to protect natural habitats.

A grand gathering at the opening featuring movers and shakers in the field, as well as representatives from foreign embassies.

This comes ahead of an important international meeting, the COP15, or the 15th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming in October.

PROFESSOR SHAHBAZ KHAN Director, UNESCO Beijing Office "How can we conserve in different parts of the world and what can we do together?"

Think of pandas, monkeys and dolphins.

But also plant species, the often overlooked one in the "flora and fauna" pair.

Botanists are calling for more attention to this field.

PROFESSOR HONG DEYUAN Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences "In regards to how ordinary people view beauty, plants usually take a back seat to other things. This is understandable as they're not cute. From a social and economic standpoint, however, plants are no less important. Without meat, we can eat plants, but without plants, would there be meat?"

Frontrunners in the field of conservation, giving a message it's time for us all to take action.

Tao Yuan, CGTN, Beijing.