Biodiversity protection focus of overall development plan

Belt and Road focus on biodiversity

Zhang Hua (right) examines the health of a lamb at a sheep base in Yuyang district, Yulin city, Shaanxi province, on Oct 30. [Photo/Tao Ming/Xinhua] 

As biodiversity protection is a key part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, along with partners from home and abroad, has launched the BRI International Green Development Coalition to build a cooperation platform for green development and achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The IGDC already has more than 150 partners from over 40 countries, and launched 10 thematic partnerships including those on biodiversity and ecosystem management.

Besides, China has vowed to make greater efforts to develop the BRI Environmental Big Data Platform with the aim of sharing its experiences in implementing environmental laws and regulations with the other Belt and Road countries, and provide governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals with data services so they can make informed decisions. and the EBDP already has access to biodiversity-related data from more than 100 countries.

The world is still struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and planning an eco-friendly economic recovery.

On its part, the Chinese government will continue to make good use of the existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation and exchange mechanisms to promote green development along the Belt and Road routes, and share with other countries China's ecological and environmental concepts and practices.

It will also continue to make efforts to promote green infrastructure development by paying more attention to the impact of infrastructure-related projects on biodiversity, establish an environmental risk assessment mechanism and find green solutions to economic problems.

Zhou Guomei, executive director-general of Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment