National Business Daily:

Over the years, we have seen more lucid waters and lush mountains around us, and the sight of rare animals and plants has been caught more often than before. These are the results of China's efforts in ecological protection. What has China done to protect the eco-environment over the years? Speaking of eco-environment, we will think of COP15. As the COP15 presidency, what kind of role will China play in the second phase of the meeting? What goals does China have? Thank you.

Huang Runqiu:

Thank you for your questions. A beautiful ecological environment lays the foundation for achieving harmony between humans and nature. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has prioritized ecological protection in the efforts to promote ecological progress, stressed on more than one occasion the need to conduct holistic conservation and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, to improve the quality and stability of ecosystems and ensure natural ecological security. Over the past decade, we have made great achievements in this regard, and the works we have done are as follows:

First, the past decade has witnessed the overall improvement of the eco-environment protection system. In terms of laws and regulations, China has promulgated and revised more than 20 laws and regulations, including laws on bio safety and forests and laws on the protection of wild animals and wetlands. We have further strengthened legal protection for ecological environment. In terms of systems and measures, China initiated an ecological conservation redline system. More than 25 percent of China's land area has been demarcated for ecological protection under this system. China has established a national park-based nature reserve system and established the first batch of five national parks, including the Three-River-Source National Park, bringing 90% of land ecosystem types and 74% of national key protected wild animal and plant species under protection. By enforcing the ten-year fishing ban along the Yangtze River, rare aquatic species, including the Yangtze finless porpoise, which is often called the "smiling angel," has seen initial recovery. The number of aquatics species monitored in Dongting Lake increased by 30 from 2018 to 2021.

Second, the past decade has witnessed the greatest efforts for supervising ecological protection. By conducting central eco-environmental protection inspections, a series of prominent eco-environmental problems have been solved. For example, the Qilian Mountains, which suffered from significant damages, are now covered in greenery. The effort in ecological governance has seen great results. The northern slope of the Qinling Mountains has also undergone historical changes. Blind development was curbed, non-ecofriendly factors withdrew in an orderly manner, and the ecosystem has started to restore. We have worked with relevant departments to conduct the "Green Shield" campaign five years in a row to strengthen the supervision of nature reserves, which helped to solve more than 5,000 problems found in national nature reserves.

Third, the past decade has seen China effectively consolidate its shields for ecological security. We adhere to the holistic conservation and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts. We have steadily advanced 25 pilot projects to protect and restore mountain, water, forest, farmland, lake and grassland ecosystems, carried out major biodiversity protection projects, and designated 35 biological diversity conservation priority areas. The glossy ibis, which was once thought to be extinct, has reappeared. You can see that this picture is the glossy ibis, which is rare and has appeared again in our nature. Moreover, there are now new members of the critically endangered Hainan gibbon species, as seen in the picture above. The number of Hainan gibbons is constantly expanding. The critically endangered species of graptopetalum aquifolium that had been thought missing for a century has also been discovered again. In total, 112 unique, rare and endangered wild animals and plants have returned to the wild.

Fourth, the past decade has seen innovative development, during which we have turned "lucid waters and lush mountains" into "invaluable assets." We regard the construction of ecological civilization as an essential platform and carrier for practicing Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, and successively organized and named five batches of 362 national ecological civilization demonstration cities and counties. Moreover, we have created 136practice and innovation bases for the "two mountains" concept, according to which "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." We have guided all localities to actively explore new ways to achieve green and high-quality development with ecological conservation as the priority. For example, the Jiawang district in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province. Through the vigorous implementation of restoration projects for mine subsidence, afforestation and water system management, this district has witnessed a massive transformation from "a city of half coal ash" to "a city of green hills and lakes."

Fifth, the past decade has seen China's increased participation in global biodiversity governance. We have actively implemented the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its protocols. Over the past decade, China has accomplished its biodiversity conservation goals better than the global average. In October last year, as the president of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention, we successfully held the first phase of COP15 in Kunming. President Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered a keynote speech, announcing the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund and other host country initiatives. In addition, the Kunming Declaration was adopted at COP15. The theme of this conference is "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth," which has explained to the world China's ideas, propositions and actions to advance global ecological civilization. It has also contributed to the promotion of global ecological civilization and biodiversity conservation using Chinese wisdom, solutions and strength.

The reporter mentioned the second phase of COP15 just now. I think all of you are very concerned about it. Taking into account the domestic and international COVID-19 prevention and control situation, the location of the second phase of the conference will be changed to Montreal, Canada, the seat of the CBD Secretariat, from December 7 to 19, 2022. Although the location has changed, the theme of COP15 remains the same, "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth." Under the same theme, China will continue to perform its duties as theCOP15 president to lead the agenda. Our goal is to reach an ambitious and pragmatic post-2020 global biodiversity framework that balances the objectives of the convention promotes global biodiversity and builds a shared future for all life on earth. Thank you.

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