The second phase of the United Nations' negotiations on the world's new biodiversity conservation goals through 2030, known as COP15, has been relocated from Kunming, Yunnan province, to the Canadian city of Montreal, between Dec 5 and 17, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
The decision was reached following consultation among the Chinese and Canadian governments and the secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, a media release from the ministry said on Tuesday. The secretariat is based in Montreal.
With the COVID-19 pandemic control situations at home and abroad fully considered, the arrangement was made to "accelerate the global biodiversity conservation process", it said.
"China will continue to work as the presidency of the COP15," it said, adding that the theme of the gathering and its logo will remain unchanged.
The Chinese government has always attached great importance to biodiversity conservation, the statement said. With consistent efforts to play its role as the host of COP15, China, together with other parties, will endeavor to see an ambitious and realistic post-2020 global biodiversity framework reached at the meeting.
Dimitri de Boer, chief China representative of environmental law organization ClientEarth, said a lot of negotiations need to be carried out at the conference and the relocation helps address the uncertainties about the second phase of COP15. "This is very practical," he added.
As the largest UN biodiversity gathering in a decade, COP15 was originally scheduled to be held in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, in October 2020.
With the theme "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth", it is tasked with elaborating on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and identifying protection goals through 2030.
Ecological civilization is a concept promoted by President Xi Jinping for balanced and sustainable development featuring the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.
After being postponed to May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled in August to be held in two phases, first in October 2021 and then in the first half of this year.
The first phase was successfully held in Kunming from Oct 11 to 15, which included the opening ceremony, leaders' speeches and the issuing of the Kunming Declaration. Overseas personnel attended the meeting online.
Via video link at the conference, Xi announced China's initiative to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund to support biodiversity protection in developing countries.
China took the lead in investing 1.5 billion yuan ($224 million), and called for contributions from other parties to the fund.
Czech visa service center opens in Kunming
Posted byRead the text:
"Not only will the visas allow tourists to visit the Czech Republic, but also all other countries in the Schengen Area. Under the Schengen Agreement, tourists may use visas for any one country included in the treaty in order to enter any other country."
Forgotten British consulate getting Chinese facelift
Posted byThe old British consulate is located at N: 24-02-03 E: 98-29-32 at the former rice and oil market at the old West Gate (Xi Men which is no longer there). It is next to the stadium in the middle of town. The area around is under redevelopment and should become a town park. The building is totally restored but they left the war damage in the outside walls intact.
Jinghong dam release aimed at easing SE Asian drought
Posted byI should not be trolling because this is indeed serious business.
Jinghong dam release aimed at easing SE Asian drought
Posted by@Alien.
The above was just a compilation of entries from vicar in an other discussion.
I already contributed his blabla in reaction to the sentence: "The water crisis in Southeast Asia has been blamed largely on climate change strengthened weather phenomenon El Niño." Just trolling a bit.
Indeed I am not a Vietnamese farmer.
Jinghong dam release aimed at easing SE Asian drought
Posted byAnd what's wrong with the world being warmer anyway? People are moving to warmer climates all the time. The places that had coldest winters on record last/this year will certainly be hoping for a warmer period. Adapting to climate change shouldn't need to be that expensive or scary. When the ice on the river Thames used to form so hard between the 17th and 19th centuries, people weren't saying they were all going die if they didn't change their lifestyles. They had frost fairs on ice. Today's warnings on climate change are at biblical proportions and only being used as the idea of hell is losing its hold. In fact the average climate is manipulated by the sun's heat intensity at the time and the orbital position of the earth in relation to the sun which does change over long periods, during which humans were not around for the most dramatic changes. You can also argue that the hotter the sun, the warmer the earth, hence more C02. Proof of major climate change over millions of years all around us, stone forest for example. Try and get the picture of the large chunks of ice collapsing into the ocean during the SUMMER and the polar bear standing hopelessly on the last small block of ice on earth out of your mind. If you were right, the artic cap would be totally gone by now as the use of fossil fuels has been constantly increasing since the idea of climate change by human error came into existance. And from NASA. The largest amount of ice in antartica since 1979, yes, in 37 years. How much fossuil fuel has been burnt since then I wonder. A lot more than the numerous previous ice and warming ages. It's been unpredictable for the past few billion years. Putting the majority of attention and money on agenda focused, tax rising, control grabbing schemes is not working. To save ourselves from natural climatic conditions beyond our control we must turn our attention to how best we can protect ourselves against it because if we are honest to ourselves we will never be able control or prevent extreme weather conditions in our lifetimes.