Jamaica’s National Biodiversity Conference 2021 was held in both in-person and virtual manner on 7 December 2021. Honourable Pearnel Charles, Jr., Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change of Jamaica attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the Conference. H. E. Mr. Tian Qi, Chinese Ambassador to Jamaica delivered virtual remarks titled Work Together to Build a Community of All Life on Earth.
Ambassador Tian said that living in harmony with nature is our common goal and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. China has been making great contributions to realizing this goal. The first part of the COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity was successfully held in Kunming, China in October 2021. The meeting adopted the Kunming Declaration and called upon all parties to take actions to jointly build a community of all life on Earth. President Xi Jinping announced that China would invest 1.5 billion yuan (about US$230 million) to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund to support biodiversity protection in developing countries.
Ambassador Tian said that China is committed to the path of green, low-carbon and sustainable development. President Xi Jinping proposed a widely welcomed Global Development Initiative in September 2021. The Initiative is committed to development as a priority, follows a people-centered approach, and seeks harmony between man and nature, which will definitely inject strong impetus into global efforts in protecting biodiversity and achieving common prosperity.
Ambassador Tian stressed that Jamaica is a bio-diverse country with unique ecosystems, abundant species and rich genetic variety, and plays an active and important role in protecting biodiversity. As global environmental governance is facing unprecedented challenges, China stands ready to continue working with Jamaica and other countries to strengthen global cooperation on the construction of global ecological civilization and biodiversity protection. Developed countries should provide more financial, technology and capacity-building support to developing countries to enhance their capacity to protect biodiversity and combat climate change.
Ambassador Tian said that in 2022, China will host the second part of the COP15 which is expected to adopt the landmark post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the COP14 of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. These are important and good opportunities in generating more momentum and actions for global biodiversity protection. As said by President Xi Jinping, “if we humanity do not fail Nature, Nature will not fail us”. Let’s join hands to build a community of all life on Earth where humanity lives in harmony with Nature.