From October 11 to 15, the first part of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was successfully held in Kunming. President Xi Jinping attended the Leaders’ Summit for COP 15 by video link and delivered a keynote address, while Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the high-level meeting on site and delivered a speech, and nine national leaders together with the UN Secretary-General attended the meeting and delivered speeches via video links. Associate Professor Liu Xuehua and Assistant Professor Guo Xue from the School of Environment, Tsinghua University, together with PhD student Wu Ruoxi, master student Xie Cangyang in GELP (Global Environmental Leadership Program), undergraduate students Zhang Shangchen and Cheng Hao Sheng in GEP (Global Envrionmental Programme) attended the forum.
Photo of Associate Professor Liu Xuehua and Student Cheng Hao Sheng in GEP at the Conference Site
COP 15 was held in two parts in 2021 and 2022 respectively with the theme of “Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth”. The first part of the conference issued Kunming Declaration which calls for action to halt biodiversity loss and achieve sustainable development. The Declaration commits to develop, adopt, and implement an effective “post-2020 global biodiversity framework" to reverse the current trends in biodiversity loss and start recovery by 2030. By doing so, the shared vision of “living in harmony with nature” can be fulfilled.
Faculty and students from the School of Environment attended the opening ceremony and listened to keynote speeches by Vice Premier Han Zheng, Executive Secretary of CBD Elisabeth Muremma, and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Inger Andersen. They gained insights into China’s concerted actions to conserve biodiversity, fight climate change, and improve the environmental quality.
Students from the School of Environment at the Opening Ceremony
Ecological Civilization Forum 1 of COP 15, themed “Towards a Carbon Neutral Future: Synergy between Climate Change and Biodiversity”, discussed how to conserve biodiversity and achieve carbon neutrality synergistically during climate crisis from multiple perspectives, including policy top design, academic and scientific evidence, and business and societal support. The aim of the forum was to secure the successful convening of COP15 (on biodiversity) and COP26 (on climate change). Four students, namely Wu Ruoxi, Xie Cangyang, Zhang Shangchen, and Cheng Haosheng, participated in the organization of the forum and drafted the “Youth Declaration on Climate Change and Biodiversity Conservation under the Carbon Neutral Goal”, which ensured the success of the forum, and showed the excellency of the students from the School of Environment in the international conference.
Students from the School of Environment Participated in the organization of the forum
The Convention on Biological Diversity Signed in 1992 is the first global convention on the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of biodiversity. COP15 aims to design a global roadmap for the conservation, protection, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems over the next decade. The first part of the meeting formed a high-level and strong political impetus for biodiversity conservation and set ambitious but feasible goals as political guidance for global consultations on biodiversity. It is surely a new force driving countries to take action to ensure that biodiversity is on the path to recovery by 2030.
