The 14th Conference of the Parties to the Wetland Convention will kick off on the 5th in Wuhan, China and Geneva, Switzerland. This is the first time that our country has hosted the Conference of the Parties to the Wetland Convention. The conference was themed "Cherish the wetlands and live in harmony between man and nature".
So, what will this international conference with wetlands be studied? How will it be opened? Why is the
conference attracted much attention?
Wetlands are one of the important ecosystems in the world and play an important role in maintaining ecology, water resources, biosecurity, and responding to global climate change. They are known as the "kidney of the earth" and "species gene bank".
As the world's first intergovernmental multilateral environmental convention, the Wetlands Convention was signed by representatives from 18 countries in the coastal city of Ramsar, Iran on February 2, 1971. The full name is " Convention on International Important Wetlands, especially as a waterfowl habitat.
After more than 50 years of development, the connotation of the Wetland Convention has extended from focusing on waterfowl habitats and migration of waterfowl protection to focusing on the entire wetland ecosystem and its functions. The number of Parties has grown to 172. The Chinese government officially acceded to the Wetlands Convention in 1992 and became the 67th party to the Convention.
Landscape of East Lake, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Min
The Conference of the Parties, which is usually held every three years, is the highest decision-making body of the Convention. It mainly considers the implementation of the Convention and the Convention development strategy in the past three years, revises the International Directory of Important Wetlands, and passes relevant resolutions. According to customary practice, the participants of the Conference of the Parties are mainly representatives of government delegations, relevant international organizations and civil society organizations, experts and scholars, etc.
In addition to deliberating strategic issues of the Convention development and publishing the strategic framework of the Convention, the conference also has an important task, which is to implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and review major compliance matters such as the Global Wetland Development Strategy. Because of this, the conference attracted much attention. The international community hopes to further promote the protection and rational use of global wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation.
According to the agenda, the conference is scheduled to be held from November 5 to 13, 2022, with the main online and offline venues set up in Wuhan, Hubei and online and offline sub-venues set up in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the development direction of the convention and review important matters for compliance.
Relevant person in charge of the Wetland Management Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said that the main activities of Wuhan's online and offline main venues include the opening ceremony of the conference, the high-level ministerial meeting, the China Wetland Achievement Exhibition, the China series of border meetings, wetland inspections, etc.
At the same time, it is located in the online and offline sub-venue of in Geneva. It will hold plenary meetings, standing committee meetings, regional meetings, national border meetings, international wetland exhibitions, closing ceremonies and other activities.
It is particularly worth mentioning that this year marks the 30th anniversary of China's accession to the Wetlands Convention. In order to systematically display the achievements of China's ecological civilization construction, Wuhan City also carried out ecological transformation of an abandoned water plant in the Donghu National Wetland Park, and planned a special exhibition to showcase China's 30-year achievements in fulfilling its obligations. What important agendas will the
conference have?
——Granting plaques for international wetland city .
On October 28, 2018, at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Wetland Convention held in Dubai, UAE, six cities in Changde, Changshu , Dongying , Harbin, Haikou and Yinchuan were certified as the first batch of international wetland cities. As of now, China occupies 13 of the 43 international wetland cities around the world, making it the country with the largest number of international wetland cities in the world.
During this conference, the second batch of international wetland cities will be awarded plaques, including Hefei, Jining , Nanchang , Panjin , wuhan, Yancheng and other cities in China.
Migratory birds fly on the water surface of the Chenhu Ecological Nature Reserve in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun
- Promote the establishment of an international mangrove center in China.
mangrove growing on tropical and subtropical coasts. It is a wetland woody plant community composed of evergreen trees or shrubs mainly composed of mangrove , and is called the "coast guard".However, under the influence of human activities, the area of mangroves around the world is decreasing at an average annual rate of 1%.
Conference will actively seek support from all parties in China and promote the establishment of an international mangrove center in China. It will serve as an important base and scientific research platform for international cooperation in global mangrove protection, and focus on international training and seminars, scientific research and education and mangrove protection projects.
——Review and pass the global wetland protection and development strategy framework.
Relevant person in charge of the Wetland Management Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said that this conference will take the formulation of the fifth phase of the Convention as an opportunity to promote the review and approval of the "Strategic Framework for the Development of Global Wetlands after 2025", lead the development direction of the Convention, and make plans for global wetland protection in the next period, and promote the opening of a new chapter in global wetland protection. Why did
choose to be held in Wuhan?
Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the Wetland Convention and Professor of Beijing Forestry University Lei Guangchun said that the choice of the conference was held in Wuhan, which is closely related to the superior wetland resources and strong protection measures in Wuhan.
Wuhan is located on the shore of the Yangtze River in . It is a city born with water. Lei Guangchun said that Wuhan is a typical representative of lake-type wetlands in the same latitude and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It has rivers and hundreds of lakes in the territory. It has 165 rivers and 166 lakes, with a wetland area of 162,400 hectares, accounting for 18.9% of the country's land area.
Wuhan was the first to legislate wetland protection legislation as early as 2010, and successively issued the " Wuhan Wetland Nature Reserve Regulations ", " Wuhan Lake Protection Regulations ", " Wuhan Basic Ecological Control Line Management Regulations ", etc., providing institutional guarantees for urban wetland protection and management. (Reporters Liao Jun, Hou Wenkun, Xiong Qi)
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
[Editor: Yao Hao]
[Source: Xinhua News Agency]
