Chinese ambassador highlights national park cooperation between China, Canada

OTTAWA, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu on Wednesday highlighted here the national park cooperation between China and Canada, noting that the two countries have been cooperating on nature reserves since 2012.

Speaking at the National Park Photo Exhibition held in the capital city of Ottawa, Cong said Canada has a long history of national park development, and the cooperation between the two countries saw Banff National Park and China's Huangshan National Forest Park united as sister parks for ten years.

"Over the years, China has been actively piloting national parks through the construction of forest parks and nature reserves," Cong said. "Currently China is actively building a national park system which covers a total area of about 1.1 million square kilometers accounting for more than 10 percent of China's land area."

The ambassador said the pictures on display depict China's first five national parks, which cover an area of 230,000 square km and are home to nearly 30 percent of the key terrestrial wildlife species found in the country.

China is willing to actively participate in global environmental governance and strengthen international cooperation in areas such as climate change response, marine pollution control and biodiversity conservation, Cong said.