The second phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (COP15) kicked off Wednesday in Canada. China remains as the president of the conference with the continued theme of "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth." 

More than 17,000 delegates from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, parties and stakeholders attended the conference. At the conference, delegates will jointly map out strategies and directions for global biodiversity conservation.

At the opening, Huang Runqiu, president of COP15 and China's minister of ecology and environment, called for international cooperation. He stressed that there is an urgent need for countries and organizations to take action to protect global biodiversity.

"I look forward to seeing the parties, international organizations and stakeholders demonstrate the spirit of international cooperation, show political determination and the utmost sincerity during the second phase of the meeting, fully demonstrate flexibility, and actively seek agreement on key issues," Huang said.

He also called on all parties to make positive political commitments and continue to increase international financial input to create favorable conditions for advancing the consultations.

High-level representatives, such as ministers of countries and heads of international organizations and institutions, were encouraged to focus on solving difficult issues and reach the greatest consensus to achieve the "landmark outcome of the conference," the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity losses by 2030.

The first phase of COP15 was held last October in Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, at which Kunming Declaration was adopted, laying a solid political foundation for the second phase of COP15.

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