China submits draft biodiversity declaration to UN, urges global community to sign

China will call on the nations to recognise the importance of biodiversity in human health and tout the crucial Chinese Communist Party (CCP) slogans about protecting the natural ecosystems, according to the draft declaration submitted to the United Nations (UN) this week. It also revealed that China is hoping the ‘Kunming Declaration’ to be agreed by all the parties to seal a new international treaty before the delayed ‘COP 15’ biodiversity meeting, which is set to take place in October in the southwestern city of Kunming. The “zero draft” of the declaration has been published on the official website of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity on Thursday.

The declaration also including China’s Xi Jinping-led Communist Party’s concept of “ecological civilization.” The draft has incorporated the formulation of “lucid water and lush mountains” that was used by the Chinese President in a speech in 2005 along with dozens of other country’s policy documents and the so-called propaganda campaigns since Jinping acquired the power in 2012. Further, the document has also urged the parties to “mainstream” biodiversity protection in decision-making and recognising the relevance of conservation to protect human health.

China hopes global community to sign the declaration

China also wants the international community to sign the declaration during the virtual Kunming talks that are scheduled to take place on October 11. The Asian country is eying to build a consensus behind a more enhanced global treaty to be finalised in May in person. As per reports, the covering letter sent to the United Nations (UN) by Chinese environment minister Huang Runqiu, the member states have been reportedly invited for ‘feedback’ to the draft before September 6.

China’s senior climate advisor, Li Shuo with the environment group Greenpeace in Beijing, reportedly said that ambition would be required to be ‘built up over the next month.’ He added that as the technical negotiations continue to ‘sink deeper in the mud,’ the Declaration should force the consensus that technocrats cannot do. Chinese state media, Global Times also touted the country’s contribution in rectifying the climate crisis stating that it has the “largest share of the world's entire energy savings.”

Image Credit: AP