This Aug 16, 2022 aerial photo shows a section of the Yellow River in Tangke Township, Ruoergai County of Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan province. (JIANG HONGJING / XINHUA)
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday called for efforts to raise awareness, strengthen cooperation and scale up wetlands conservation action across the world.
He made the remarks while delivering a speech via video at the opening ceremony of the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The meeting will be held in China's Wuhan and Switzerland's Geneva from Nov 5 to 13.
Themed "Wetlands Action for People and Nature," the meeting is of great significance and will explore ways to further preserve and develop wetlands, said Xi.
"It is important that we build global consensus on prizing wetlands, show our respect for nature, minimize disruption and damage caused by human activities, and protect the ecological security of wetlands, in order to leave the beautiful wetlands to our future generations.”
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He also stressed the importance of advancing the global process on wetlands conservation, redoubling efforts to preserve authenticity and integrity, including more important wetlands in nature reserves, improving cooperation mechanisms and platforms, and increasing the coverage of wetlands of international importance.
Wetlands have become an integral part of many Chinese cities like Wuhan, making the cities notably more livable.
Xi Jinping, President, China
“It is important that we enhance people's well-being globally by leveraging the role of wetlands in promoting sustainable development, tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity, and delivering more benefits to people around the world," he added.
China will pursue a modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and promote high-quality development in the wetlands conservation cause, he said.
Referring to China’s recently drawn up national parks layout plan, he said, “Under the plan, China will designate a number of national parks, accounting for about 10 percent of the country's land area."
According to Xi, a national wetlands conservation plan and major conservation projects will be implemented in China. Also, China will promote international exchanges and cooperation to protect the four bird migration routes passing China and to build an international mangrove center in Shenzhen.
China has increased the area of wetlands to 56.35 million hectares, put in place a protection system, and enacted a Wetlands Conservation Law, he said.
"Wetlands have become an integral part of many Chinese cities like Wuhan, making the cities notably more livable.”
Calling for enhancing people's well-being globally by leveraging the role of wetlands, he stressed building global consensus on prizing wetlands.
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China will promote international exchanges and cooperation to protect the four bird migration routes passing China and build an international mangrove center in Shenzhen, Xi said
China also supports the convening of a conference of the World Coastal Forum, he said.