Beijing, for its part, has been trying to reverse the damage by protecting areas, hunting down wildlife trafficking and demolishing thousands of construction projects encroaching on nature reserves.
A new biodiversity whitepaper released Friday acknowledged that China “has a long way to go” but said it had identified 2.763 million square kilometers of “priority conservation” areas – 28.8% of its total territory.
The document says that the territory will continue to strengthen laws and their enforcement, prosecuting the trafficking of endangered animals and plants, as well as violations of fishing bans on the Yangtze River and elsewhere.
The UN biodiversity conference, known as COP15, will kick off Monday in Kunming, southwest China, with discussions online as a result of restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. The second round will take place in April.
Environmental groups hope the conference can implement more ambitious biodiversity targets, even though the targets set in 2010 in Aichi, Japan, were not met.
A major problem is persuading nations to commit to protecting 30% of their territory by 2030. China protects about a quarter of its total land area as part of its ecological program.
In a briefing on Friday, the Deputy Minister of the Environment, Zhao Yingmin, said the implementation of the Aichi targets was “generally unsatisfactory”, adding that countries must show both “ambition and practicality”. In this way, the goal remains to establish mechanisms to provide ecological protection funds for Southeast Asia, Africa and elsewhere, the government said in the whitepaper.
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
