Activities
“International Day for Biodiversity” Events in Nanchang
On the occasion of the “International Day for Biodiversity” (May 22), China’s Ministry of Environment and Ecology (MEE) hosted two events in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, along the theme “Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health” – an Awareness-Raising Event (May 22) and a Conference on Biodiversity Protection (May 23). SGEP project director, Dr. Christian Stärz, joined the conference and gave a presentation on “Biodiversity Financing and Financial Mechanisms – Experiences from Germany”.
Awareness-Raising Event on the occasion of the “International Day for Biodiversity” (May 22). Picture: MEE
Picture: MEE
On May 22, Minister Li Ganjie emphasized the importance of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD COP 15), which will be held in Kunming, China, in the second half of 2020. Since the current Aichi-Targets on Biodiversity Protection are set until 2020, the international community is currently working on a new Post 2020-Framework. According to Minister Li, China is determined to fulfill its responsibilities as the COP 15 host-country and actively support the international biodiversity process.
The conference on May 23 brought together experts from government institutions, academia, societal organizations and businesses. Discussions focused on four topics: “China’s Implementation of the Aichi Targets”, “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use”, “Biodiversity Conservation Financing Mechanism and Natural Capital Accounting” and “Mainstreaming of Biodiversity Conservation Facilitated by Partnership”.
MEE’s biodiversity department emphasized the hope for more participation from societal organizations and enterprises in the area of biodiversity protection and extended an invitation for increased collaboration and information-sharing. A new platform also serves this purpose, the “China Business and Biodiversity Partnership”, which was officially launched by MEE at the conference on May 23.
SGEP project director, Dr. Christian Stärz, giving a presentation on biodiversity financing on May 23. Picture: MEE
Picture: MEE
During his presentation, Dr. Stärz introduced three successful cases from Germany:
- MoorFutures – Peatland rewetting in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (moorfutures.de, www.aboutvalues.net)
- TEEB Germany – Flood risk management by means of floodplain restoration along the river Elbe (teebweb.org)
- BMU and BfN’s federal action lines on insect protection – especially the federal action programme to protect insects