Government negotiators from around the world will gather in Montreal, Canada next month to hammer out ways to protect global biodiversity. And China will spare no efforts in advancing negotiations in the second phase of COP15, and promoting the conclusion of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF), officials said on Monday in Beijing.

The meeting comes amid an ever-worsening rate of plant and animal extinctions. It's the second phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP15, with China currently holding the presidency.

Officials of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the new framework's structure and core have basically taken shape.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that went into effect in the early 1990s declared its three main goals: conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use of biodiversity; and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

"How does the framework reflect the balance of these three goals needs further communication and effort, said Zhou Guomei, director of the Department of International Cooperation under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. She noted that the implementation and adoption of the framework ultimately depend on a very effective implementation mechanism, which, for the vast majority of developing countries, depends on resource mobilization and financial support to a large extent.

The first phase of COP15 was held in southwestern China's Kunming in October 2021. And China announced a series of practical measures, including the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund and a batch of national parks during the first phase of the conference.

Cui Shuhong, director of the Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that China has exercised the driving force in the past years.

To discuss issues relating to the framework with other contracting parties, China has organized nearly 40 presidium meetings of the COP15, and attended the open-ended working group meetings of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework held in Geneva, Switzerland, Nairobi and Kenya.

“We conducted more in-depth exchanges and reached broader consensus. It laid a crucial foundation for the final conclusion of the framework," said Cui.

China will send a team of delegates to Montreal from government departments including the Ministries of Ecology and Environment, Natural Resources and Water Resources.

(Cover image is a screenshot.)

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