Interview: United global efforts needed to implement Kunming-Montreal Framework, says UN biodiversity official

OTTAWA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework demands a united global effort involving governments and society as a whole, the United Nation's top biodiversity official has said.

The international community is starting to line up behind the framework to support its implementation, David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The theme of this year's International Day for Biological Diversity, which falls on May 22, is "From agreement to action: build back biodiversity."

He said the level of engagement from both the biodiversity and non-biodiversity communities is unprecedented.

"Each country now needs to translate the global framework into national targets and put in place the policies needed to achieve them," the UN official said.

According to him, a key focus for many countries and organizations is the mobilization of both financial and technical resources required to support the implementation of the framework successfully.

China successfully organized the first part of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, in 2021 in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, and the second part of COP15 in 2022 in Montreal, Canada, which led to the adoption of the framework, a historic agreement among countries aiming to reverse biodiversity loss and set the world on a path of ecological recovery.

China's leadership role involves leading and working with parties and stakeholders to promote negotiations and discussions and an overall commitment to biodiversity.

Noting that China has achieved a lot in biodiversity conservation amidst rapid economic growth, he said China's active participation in combating climate change globally has the potential to provide a good model for all developing countries and contribute to consensus-building on global biodiversity conservation.

In the past 10 years, Cooper said, what China has achieved in reaching the Aichi targets (the 2020 global biodiversity targets) is above the global average.

He said the Chinese government has adopted strong policy measures in biodiversity conservation, noting that the population of wild giant pandas is growing, and their habitat is expanding.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature now lists the giant panda as a "vulnerable" instead of "endangered" species, which is "incredible progress," he said, adding it shows that conservation efforts work and provide hope for other endangered wildlife around the world.

Cooper said China is creating a nature reserve system centered around national parks, which will help enhance both in-situ and ex-situ conservation efforts.