Distinguished leaders and guests:

Good morning, everyone. After many days of preparation, the seminar on "Mainstreaming of Agricultural Biodiversity and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture" was successfully held. On behalf of the organizer of this meeting, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), I would like to welcome you and congratulate you on the successful convening of the seminar.

From the name of the seminar, it can be seen that agricultural biodiversity and genetic resources for food and agriculture are highly concerned by the CBCGDF. At the same time, China attaches great importance to and vigorously promotes the work.

In today's world, the trend of openness and accommodation is rolling forward. The history of the development of human society tells us that opening up brings progress and closure inevitably lags behind. The world has become a tightly connected global village. Secretary-General Xi has repeatedly stressed that "China's door will not be closed but will only open wider and wider". At the G20 Summit, General Secretary Xi also stressed that no matter whether the future is bright or rainy, the only right choice is to work together. This is not only the result of economic law but also in line with the historical logic of human social development. Nowadays, mankind has entered the era of ecological civilization. We must strengthen global cooperation and build a global ecological civilization. Food and Plant genetic resources are no exception. It is an important issue related to food security. In February 2019, the FAO Report on the State of World Food and Agricultural Biodiversity warned us that biodiversity, which is vital to food and agriculture, is disappearing day by day. Once lost, food and agricultural biodiversity cannot be restored, encompassing all species that can support human food systems and sustain the livelihoods of food growers or providers. Biodiversity is critical to ensuring global food security, supporting healthy and nutritious diets, improving rural livelihoods and enhancing the resilience of residents and communities. Consequently, biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of food and agriculture, as well as international cooperation in this field, are also an extremely important part of the global ecological civilization.

Similarly, in February this year, General Secretary Xi published an article entitled "Promoting the Construction of Ecological Civilization in China to a New Stage", which clearly stated that we should take part in global environmental governance, enhance our voice and influence in the global environmental governance system, actively guide the direction of international order, and find the solutions to environmental protection and sustainable development.

China is a big agricultural country and is famous for its agriculture in the world. At the National Conference on Eco-environmental Protection in May last year, Secretary-General Xi put forward the principle of "pursuing build a global ecological civilization, participating in global environmental governance in depth, forming solutions for world environmental protection and sustainable development, and guiding international cooperation in response to climate change", which is also the principle of national leaders are widely called for China's agriculture biodiversity and protection of genetic resources.

The rich diversity for food and agriculture is an important basis for China's tremendous achievement of feeding 20% of the world's population with 7% of the world's arable land. We have the duty and reason to protect the precious resources that the earth has given us. How to protect the diversity of food and agriculture? How to solve the technical puzzles and operational difficulties encountered in China's accession to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of FAO? It is a very good way to solve the main problems of agricultural biodiversity and strengthen the protection of genetic resources and benefit sharing.

In September 2017, CBCGDF organized the First National Academic Seminar on Crop Diversity (Population) Breeding. With academicians, professors and agricultural entrepreneurs in the field of agriculture in China, the relationship between crop varieties and agro-ecosystem security was centered on the current situation and problems of global agriculture. Discuss from different levels and angles. At the meeting, we talked about what kind of disaster we would face if agricultural diversity disappeared. China is rich in diversity of food and agriculture, but like most countries in the world, it is faced with the problem of substitution of other natural groups with rich diversity within single genotype crop, and this substitution is often permanent and irreversible. This is undoubtedly a huge hidden danger for food and agriculture behind the current "ample food and clothing".

In November 2017, the seventh Council of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held in Africa, at which the CBCGDF was officially adopted as an observer for the Treaty. Today, officials of the FAO, representatives of government departments, experts and scholars from various fields come to the scene. I would like to thank you once again for your support and attention to this meeting.

As mentioned in the 2004 report of the FAO, the diversity of agricultural production systems has disappeared by 75%, or 3/4, in the past 100 years. Reduced biodiversity means that animals and plants are more susceptible to pests and diseases. At present, global climate change is significant, natural disasters occur frequently, and pest resistance is increasing. Especially in recent years, a series of ecological crises caused by the depletion of crop genetic diversity are becoming more and more serious due to the use of a large number of pesticides and fertilizers for the cultivation of off-season and non-native crops, which poses great challenges and threats to the sustainable development of human beings and the supply of healthy food.

The so-called off-season vegetable is the seasonal fruit and vegetable that can be purchased in any season from tropical fruits appearing on the table in cold regions to all seasons of the year. In recent years, more and more consumers around the world can enjoy the fruits of a particular season almost all year round, besides tasting seasonal fruits and vegetables. In order to meet these needs, human beings pay a heavy price in terms of environment and agricultural biodiversity. Fundamentally, off-season facilities have seriously changed the biological nature of fruits and vegetables. It is also for this reason that off-season fruits and vegetables enrich people's daily life, but also bring serious environmental pollution and food safety problems. All these deserve our in-depth analysis and reflection.

(Photo credit: FAO)

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/9192.html

By / Li Xue