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China's President Xi Jinping during his speech at the World Nature Conference in Kunming
Photo: Li Xueren / Xinhua / IMAGO
China has announced a contribution of 1.5 billion yuan to a new fund to conserve biodiversity in developing countries.
"China will take the lead in establishing the Kunming Fund for Biodiversity," President Xi Jinping said in a speech at the UN Conference on Biodiversity on Tuesday.
He called on all participants to contribute to the fund as well.
According to a UN report from May, global spending on the protection and restoration of nature must be tripled in this decade to prevent mass extinction.
However, some richer countries are opposed to setting up a new fund for this purpose.
They argue that there is already a UN initiative for nature conservation in developing countries that helps fund green projects.
The World Biodiversity Conference started on Monday in Kunming, China.
Because of the corona pandemic, the first political part of the conference will take place largely virtually over a week.
At a face-to-face event in the coming year, a global species protection agreement with goals up to 2030 is to be agreed - similar to the 2015 Paris climate protection agreement.
"Live in harmony with nature" by 2050
Talks at expert level will take place over the winter.
The question of funding will be dealt with during negotiations in Geneva in January and later during the second official part of the conference in April and May.
According to a previous draft for the global agreement, countries should commit to "living in harmony with nature" by 2050.
To this end, 21 »goals for urgent measures« are formulated.
30 percent of the area on land and in the sea should be placed under protection by 2030 and the expenditure on species protection should rise to the equivalent of 173 billion euros annually within a decade.
In his speech, the President of China also criticized the USA, which is one of the handful of countries that have not signed the UN Convention on the Conservation of Biodiversity.
"We should practice real multilateralism and abide by international rules that cannot be exploited or discarded as we see fit," said Xi.
bam / AFP