Dr. Zhou: CBCGDF has been persistently considering innovating the way of “Going Out”. For instance, CBCGDF has its own international division. On 23 October 2017, after the 19th CPC National Congress, CBCGDF founded its “Going Out” office, to serve China’s “Going Out” strategy. To reduce costs, mobilize more young people to “Going Out”, and assist in the endeavor of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and “A Community of Shared Future for Mankind”, CBCGDF founded the model of “Green Great” and an international platform for college students keen on environmental protection, where local volunteers can be invited to take part in meetings and activities. Importantly, volunteer representatives at the forefront are not alone but have a strong backup force, which we call “Green Support” regime and can be utilized to maximize the effect of participating in various meetings and activities. Funding is a primary problem for most “Going Out” social organizations. Since the innovative phasing in of the “Green Support” regime in October 2017, our “Green Support” teams have achieved a series of remarkable outcomes in telling Chinese good stories, transmitting Chinese good voice and enabling the world to have a better understanding of China, at a minimal cost, astounding efficiency and highly efficient teamwork like strong field support. For instance, at the “Seminar on Strengthening Environmental and Social Sustainable Development of Chinese Investment in Africa” held on 14 December 2017 in Beijing, two CBCGDF staffs and one “Green Great” representative communicated extensively with delegation from around the world, introducing our good stories and good voice, expeditiously expanding our social network, and realizing in-time broadcasting at our social media platform (Weibo). Often, the “Green Support” team can find out in a few minutes the working area of the invited guests acquainted by CBCGDF members at the meeting, follow up with emails, introduce our work, establish email correspondence, and furthermore propose potential areas for future collaboration. In this way, this “Green Support” regime provides an equal ground for an ordinary young man and an international expert to express themselves at an international meeting. CBCGDF does not miss any opportunity to cultivate the younger generation, enables them to widen their horizon, meet challenges, and exercise themselves. It is because we expect to utilize the CBCGDF platform to cultivate more and more excellent young people who will be the hope of a beautiful China and a sustainable world in the future.

“Social Governance”: On 17 November 2018, the “14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity Conservation” opened in Egypt. CBCGDF delegation hosted two side events and one media press conference. Could you please briefly introduce the conference and the implication of voicing our opinions at the international stage?

Dr. Zhou: I led the CBCGDF to host two side events — “Areas of Connectivity Conservation: Bottom-up and Top-down Conservation for Ecological Networks” and “Dialogue on Making Likeminded Megadiversity Countries Conservation Leaders for the Ecological Belt and Road Initiatives”. Both made a big success: One is wide participation. Both side events can be called an unprecedentedly grand occasion with no empty seats available. Because of this, our guests who were not able to find a seat had to sit on the floor. There was as many as a whole row of them. Another detail was that I met one Chinese scholar who went in and out of our venue. He asked me how he could find CBCGDF's side event because this one was full of foreigners and could not be CBCGDF's. I told him that this was CBCGDF's side event. Second, participants were highly diverse and representative. The keynote speakers were from five continents, which implied representativeness. Young people from Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) likewise attended the event, balancing the age and gender pool. Third, speeches were highly theme-oriented, with rich diversity, high standard, and deep insight. Quite a few internationally renowned experts including Dr. Kathy Mackinnon from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and World Commission on Protected Area (WCPA) (Dr. Kathy Mackinnon is the president of WCPA), Mr. Norbert Barlocher from Swiss Federal Environmental Office (FOEN), Dr. Bob Tansey who is the senior advisor on foreign affairs and policies at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), member of the IUCN-WCPA connectivity expert panel Dr. Harvey Locke, Dr. Gilles Seutin from Parks Canada, Head and Senior Advisor of Natural Resources IUCN Asian Office Dr. Scott Perkin and Mr. Christian Schwarzer from GYBN attended and listened to the side events, most of whom also shared their keynote speeches. Fourth, we had full support from the Chinese government delegation. The deputy head of the Chinese government delegation, its speaker, coordinator, leaders from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and professors from Tsinghua University all came to our side events. What was most important and impressive was that quite a few internationally renowned guests at our side events, when giving their keynote speeches, referred to President Xi Jinping and the "Belt and Road" Initiative. We were also deeply encouraged by their appreciation of the idea of Eco civilization as being really exceptional.

In addition, there have been several “by-products” from CBD CoP14: We initiated a talk between the head of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the deputy head of the Chinese government delegation, with agreement on jointly promoting work on the post-2020 biodiversity conservation reached. We also introduced delegation from African Wildlife Foundation to the Chinese government delegation, and we exchanged friendly opinions on the status of current work on global biodiversity conservation, China-Africa biodiversity conservation, and future collaboration direction on CBD CoP15 to take place in 2020 in Beijing.

Alternative means of participation were also adopted by CBCGDF to become involved in the conference. For instance, CBCGDF representative presided over the forum part of another parallel discussion “Wild Speed: Design Infrastructure to Maintain Natural Flow and Secure Connectivity”; CBCGDF’s grandiose ecological photography works, which were exhibited in a distinct location, attracted a massive audience, and became the focus of attention, were another contribution to the conference; we also held a press conference, calling every country to work together to further the protection of the endangered pangolin species (the mammal species suffering most severely from illegal poaching globally); we also called for the incorporation of anti-poaching into the post-2020 biodiversity framework (anti-poaching is currently missing from the Aichi Targets).

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)