On March 7, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF Dr. Zhou Jinfeng attended the Greenaccord International Forum currently held in Pisa, Italy. On the same day, Dr. Zhou delivered a keynote speech titled “Biodiversity and Forests”, sharing with the world CBCGDF’s indefatigable efforts towards biodiversity conservation, telling good China’s stories and making good China’s voice. The speech was warmly applauded by the forum’s participants.

Greenaccord, founded in 2002, is an ONG Cultural Association of Christian inspiration open to all individuals of good will whatever their creed and confession are. It is intended to raise awareness of environmental issues. In particular, this year's forum is themed: "The Earth's Breath: Forests". A wide mix of national delegates, institutions, experts, interested individuals and the media have participated in the forum, learning and exchanging respective views on a series of forest-related topics, such as the role of forests in climate change, soil erosion, biodiversity conservation, and the contribution of indigenous peoples to the protection of the Earth's forests and cultural diversity. Another featured agenda at this year's forum is the Award Ceremony of the "International Greenaccord Media Award", in recognition of media representatives who have made great contributions to the preservation of the ecological environment.

One topic which is to be intensively discussed in the following days is “Indigenous Peoples and the Ecology”. This is noteworthy because it rallies almost perfectly with one long-held belief by CBCGDF in terms of biodiversity conservation, which is “public participation is an indispensable key element of the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework”. It should be admitted that, no matter how far-sighted they may be, policies and regulations formalized for bettering the environment would remain futile and meaningless without the public royally acting on them on the frontline.

“I am honored to be here to share with you China’s and CBCGDF’s good stories on biodiversity and forests”, said Dr. Zhou during his keynote speech “Biodiversity and Forests”. Elegant descriptions of the forests never vanish. It is said that “Forest is a green bank” by economists, “Forest is human’s cradle” by anthropologists, “Forest is a green sanatorium” by medical scientists, and “Forest is the nature’s cosmetologist” by artists. All these pins down to the truth that there exists an intimate bond between forests and mankind. As a leading commonweal organization in China, CBCGDF’s dedication to the environment in the past 33 years has compiled a series of good stories demonstrating the harmony between forests and mankind. “We want these stories to help remind people of this seemingly engulfed relation by the waves of Industrial Civilization, and urge them to take actions to recollect it, cherish it and restore it”, said Dr. Zhou.

Various stories were told. They ranged from publishing “Diverse Forests of China”, promoting the banning of chopsticks, “Let the Weeds Grow”, “Campus Conservation Area”, hybridizing buckwheat’s to increase crop yields, incorporating biodiversity conservation into the Constitution, establishing China Conservation Area for something at somewhere (CCAfa) system, building up of the volunteer network, identifying the black market chain threatening lives of endangered animals, correcting traditional misconceptions, to integrating modern technology into biodiversity preservation. All these help witness every tiny step and every tiny effort which have been undertaken by CBCGDF along its green journey. Forum participants listened to these stories attentively.

Juxtaposed against those historical milestones, CBCGDF's stories may indeed appear rather bland and minute. Yet the saying goes like "Progress is the Activity of Today", not to mention that every single story from CBCGDF is real and filled with hard work, perseverance, and unselfishness. "Such spirits as are embodied by the stories are exactly those that will support us and empower us out of difficulties in the future", said Dr. Zhou.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

By / Lu Lei