China pledges billions to boost biodiversity in countries

CHINA has pledged to inject $233 million (R3.8 billion) into a new fund to protect biodiversity in developing countries.

This was announced during a key UN conservation summit in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, despite disagreements among major donors on the initiative.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity has been ratified by 195 countries and the EU with the parties meeting every two years.

The summit hosted delegates from these 195 countries with the aim of establishing a new accord setting out targets for 2030 and 2050 on how to protect plants, animals and ecosystems.

“China will take the lead in establishing the Kunming biodiversity fund with a capital contribution of 1.5 bn yuan ($233m) to support the cause of biodiversity conservation in developing countries,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said via video link.

A key proposal being debated at the conference is the “30 by 30” target that would afford 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans protected status by 2030.

China’s pledge is far below the $4bn committed by the UK for global conservation projects over the next five years or France’s commitment to spend 30% of its climate finance on biodiversity.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world’s poorest nations will be worst affected by biodiversity loss.

“We are losing our suicidal war against nature,” he said. “Ecosystem collapse could cost almost $3 trillion annually by 2030 – its greatest impact will be on some of the poorest and highly indebted countries.”

South Africa was present at the Kunming summit as biodiversity is a national priority. Just over 9% of our surface area is protected, mostly by Nature Reserves and National Parks.

Over the past 15 years, Protected Environments have made a growing contribution to the protected area estate, making up 38% of the Eastern Cape’s protected area.

The Accounts for Protected Areas, 1900 to 2020, was published this month by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in collaboration with the SA National Biodiversity Institute and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

The accounts track the expansion of the protected area estate at regular time intervals over the period 1900 to 2020, at national, provincial and biome level, disaggregated by types of protected areas.

China released its first white paper this month on biodiversity conservation to showcase the country's efforts and achievements on biodiversity conservation and share its ideas with the international community as well as its practice in upholding multilateralism and deepening global co-operation.

The white paper noted that China, as one of the first countries to sign and approve the Convention on Biological Diversity, has always attached great importance to biodiversity conservation and preserving biodiversity with creative and up-to-date measures, achieving progress on a distinctively Chinese path of conservation.

It contains data demonstrating how China advances biodiversity conservation and development in parallel.

Between 2016 and 2020, China restored 1 200km of coastline and 23 000 hectares of coastal wetlands.

Between 2000 and 2017, it contributed about 25% of global vegetation growth, the biggest share among all countries.

Since 1956, China has established close to 10 000 protected areas and launched targeted campaigns to save endangered species. For example, the crested ibis population has increased from only seven to over 5 000, with both wild species and captive birds counted.

Over the past decade, China has promulgated and revised more than 20 laws and regulations pertaining to biodiversity conservation, including laws on forestry, grassland, fishery, seed, biosecurity as well as laws on the protection of wild animals.