COP15: biodiversity summit in China ends with UN hailing ‘renewed optimism’

Name: China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming
Uploaded: 2021-10-15T12:30:08.000Z
Duration: 2 min 40 s
Description: China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming

Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu urges countries to ‘maintain this valuable spirit of cooperation’

Conference yielded a joint pledge to reverse loss of animal and plant species by 2030, and a US$230 million donation by China to a biodiversity fund

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Blue skies over Kunming reflect the optimism voiced at the end of the COP15 biodiversity summit. Photo: Xinhua

Echo XieandJun Mai

Published: 8:30pm, 15 Oct 2021Updated: 11:55pm, 15 Oct 2021

The United Nations Biodiversity Conference in the Chinese city of Kunming closed on an upbeat note on Friday after a week that brought a joint commitment and pledges of funding to help countries put words into action.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the countries’ joint declaration at the conference and the strong political direction provided by many ministers had put global efforts on track.

“We can feel a renewed sense of optimism,” she said at the closing session of the conference, also known as COP15.

Stand-out moments were a pledge by the 195 participating countries to reverse loss of animal and plant species by 2030 and a 1.5 billion yuan (US$230 million) donation by China to a biodiversity fund established during the conference.

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China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming

Huang Runqiu, the Chinese environment minister and COP15 president, echoed Mrema’s sentiments as he looked forward to the countries reconvening in Kunming for the second part of the conference next April.