When it comes to nature conservation, the West wants to work with China.
President Xi Jinping pledges 200 million euros for species protection at the UN conference in Kunming.
Kunming / Munich - China has promised the equivalent of around 200 million euros for global species protection.
In a speech at the ongoing United Nations World Conservation Conference (Cop15), President Xi Jinping announced the creation of a fund with a Chinese contribution of 1.5 billion yuan on Tuesday.
This should support developing countries in protecting their biodiversity.
In his speech, which was broadcast via video link, Xi also invited other countries to participate in the financial pot.
He also promised increased Chinese efforts in the fight against the dangerous extinction of species.
China will continue to expand its nature reserves.
Müller: Germany too has to pay more for species protection
At the start of the conference on Monday, Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) asked the international community to act together. "We have no time to lose. 150 species die out every day, ”said Müller, according to a statement from his ministry. In addition, 420 million hectares of forest have been lost worldwide in the last 30 years - this corresponds to almost the area of the EU. “The world community must finally pull together,” demanded the CSU politician.
Müller expects the summit host China to play a leading role. But he also sees the industrialized countries and Germany as having an obligation: The industrialized countries should double their resources to maintain biodiversity in developing and emerging countries. "Germany should therefore increase its contribution to one billion euros annually in the coming legislative period," said Müller.
Around 5000 delegates from the almost 200 states party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) take part online and on site in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming. The aim is a new framework agreement, comparable to the Paris climate agreement. According to a draft published on the conference website, the conference document is intended to highlight the commitment to protect 30 percent of their land and sea areas by 2030, which many countries have already made. Müller also supported this target.
Experts warn that a million species could become extinct in the next ten years, which would also pose a threat to humans.
"The more natural habitats are destroyed, the greater the risk that other viruses will jump from animals to humans and cause serious diseases," said Minister Müller.
The CSU politician criticized the fact that so far only eight percent of the ocean and 17 percent of all land areas are under protection worldwide.
China wants to become a leading nation in nature conservation
China itself also wants to position itself as the leading nation in nature conservation. The country has experienced massive species extinction, because the rapid economic and industrial development paid little attention to nature. Almost all bodies of water became polluted, and natural habitats of wild animals dwindled. But a process has also got underway in the People's Republic that is giving nature conservation more weight. There are already initial successes, for example the populations of the world-famous panda bears in the province of Sichuan are recovering. And live in extensive protected areas of the plains of northeast China, according to a report in the American
Wall Street Journal
today again 55 Siberian tigers, whose population had been practically exterminated.
Other tiger species in southern China and neighboring areas in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, on the other hand, have become extinct.
Species protection: goals difficult to quantify
The conference in Kunming was initially planned for October 2020, but was postponed and split up due to the corona pandemic.
In January there should be further negotiations to prepare a framework agreement, which should then be adopted at a face-to-face meeting from April 25th to May 8th - also in Kunming.
The planned agreement of the COP15 is likely to be less binding than the Paris climate protection agreement - also because it is difficult to set targets in terms of concrete figures.
Without concrete milestones, it is difficult to hold people accountable or to determine financial needs, said conservation expert Wang Yi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences of the
South China Morning Post
.
"That is why we have just experienced a failed decade in terms of biodiversity".
So try to learn from this how the CO2 emissions were quantified for the Paris Agreement.
China: commitment also for more climate protection
Since climate change is also threatening biodiversity, Xi Jinping also assured the further expansion of renewable energies in China in his speech.
His country wants to accelerate large-scale solar projects and wind turbines.
China still covers around 60 percent of its growing energy needs from coal.
The country is currently in a severe electricity crisis, which is also structural.
The country wants to be climate-neutral by 2060.
(ck / dpa)