UN Biodiversity Conference set to hold in China in April may be affected by COVID-19

BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The schedule of the second phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in China is likely to be affected by the COVID-19, said the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Monday.

The meeting, formerly set to be held in southwest China's Kunming in April this year, is supposed to see the completion of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

The first phase of COP15 was held in Kunming last October both online and offline, and a follow-up offline meeting slated for January 2022 in Geneva has been postponed as a result of the pandemic.

Liu Youbin, the ministry's spokesperson, said China is keeping close contact with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and relevant parties.

They will take into account the UN meeting agenda throughout the year, time span of the discussions of the framework and preparations of related documents, and the pandemic situation to confirm the date, organization formats as well as epidemic-prevention measures of the second phase of COP15, Liu said.