President Xi Jinping called on Oct 12 for international solidarity and cooperation to build a community of all life on Earth, and he announced China’s initiative to establish a fund to support developing countries in protecting biodiversity with an initial investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($233 million).

Xi made the statement in a keynote speech at the Leaders’ Summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP 15, via video link in Beijing.

The COP 15 meeting, held in Kunming, Yunnan province, from Oct 11-15, was set toward the conclusion of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and to identify targets and pathways for global biodiversity protection.

Addressing the summit, Xi called on the international community to make joint efforts to solve the problems brought by industrial development and build a green, low-carbon and circular economic system to facilitate global sustainable development.

He underlined the need to make the global environmental governance system fairer and more equitable.

“We need to practice true multilateralism, and effectively honor and implement international rules, which are not to be exploited or discarded at one’s own will,” Xi said.

“The new environmental protection targets we set need to be ambitious on the one hand and pragmatic and balanced on the other.”

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a shadow over global development and compounded challenges to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said that faced with the dual tasks of economic recovery and environmental protection, developing countries need help and support all the more.

He announced China’s initiative to establish a Kunming Biodiversity Fund to support biodiversity protection in developing countries. China is taking the lead in investing 1.5 billion yuan, and is calling for and welcoming contributions from other parties to the fund, Xi said.

Saying that China has made remarkable progress in building an ecological civilization, Xi reiterated the country’s commitment to implementing the new development philosophy, which emphasizes innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared growth, and building a beautiful China.

The nation is moving faster to establish a protected areas system with national parks as the mainstay in order to strengthen biodiversity protection, he said, adding that the protected land area is around 230,000 square kilometers and covers nearly 30 percent of the key terrestrial wildlife species found in China.

To achieve its targets for a carbon apeak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, Xi said China will release implementation plans and supportive measures to cut carbon dioxide emissions in key sectors and put in place a related policy framework.

“China will continue to readjust its industrial structure and energy mix, vigorously develop renewable energy, and make faster progress in planning and developing large wind power and photovoltaic bases in sandy areas, rocky areas and deserts,” he said, adding that construction has begun for the first phase of projects with an installed capacity of approximately 100 million kilowatts.

Huang Runqiu, minister of ecology and environment, said President Xi’s speech demonstrated China’s determination to jointly promote global environmental governance and biodiversity conservation with the international community.

Helena Varkkey, senior lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, said Xi’s speech highlights “that global biodiversity is essential to support human life and prosperity, especially in the current times of climate crisis and post-COVID19 recovery”. “To have a major developing country like China take leading steps in the agenda for biodiversity is significant,” Varkkey said.

Beate Trankmann, resident representative of UN Development Programme in China said it was very encouraging to see China’s continued commitment to biodiversity protection conveyed in President Xi’s speech. “Xi’s remarks reflect a belief in the importance of putting nature at the heart of development,” Trankmann said.

Tata Mustasya, climate and energy campaign strategist at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said one of the most important points Xi mentioned in his speech is the need to transform efforts to facilitate global sustainable development, hailing his call to build a green economic system, improve people’s welfare and promote social equity.

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute, noted China’s pledge to establish a Kunming Biodiversity Fund. He said China takes the lead by investing $233 million to support biodiversity protection in developing countries and readjust its industrial structure and energy mix, with a key focus on developing the renewable energy.

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong, Chen Weihua in Brussels and Liu Hongjie in Nairobi contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn