Egyptian president calls for deeper awareness of importance of protecting biodiversity

KUNMING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday called for deeper awareness of the importance of protecting biodiversity that is closely related to human beings and their surrounding ecological environment.

"We are in a delicate period in human history," al-Sisi said in a video message to the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15.

"We are still dealing with the negative impact of the epidemic in various fields," he said.

"If countries around the world do not have a deeper awareness of the importance of protecting biodiversity and ecosystem security for our future ... we will be faced with a global disaster," al-Sisi added.

Egypt held the presidency of COP14, and has made unremitting efforts to formulate the "post-2020 global biodiversity framework" and set achievable goals supported by a clear implementation mechanism, he said.

In his remarks, al-Sisi also expressed his confidence in China's capability of continuing this important work, hoping to work together with China towards the goal of protecting biodiversity and the planet's ecosystems.