Zhou Jinfeng: What is South-South Biodiversity Science Project (SSBSP) and Why is it important for us?
2022/4/15 9:12:00 本站

In response to the instruction of "taking the initiative to design and initiate international scientific programs and projects, and setting up global scientific research funds", China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) launched the South-South Biodiversity Science Project (SSBSP) on May 31, 2021. The South-South Biodiversity Science Project (SSBSP) aims to actively carry out scientific research and conservation cooperation on biodiversity in developing countries, such as orangutan conservation in Southeast Asia, locust and fall armyworms monitoring in deserts, and international assistance to the Crisis in Madagascar.

 

On April 7, 2022, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of CBCGDF, gave a presentation on the origin, purpose, structure and content of SSBSP. Finally, he called for active participation of all sectors of society, including traditional biodiversity scientists, experts in the fields of sociology, economics and education, citizen scientists, civil society and the private sector, to work together to build a shared community of all life on Earth. Full video is available in following URL with Caption in English: https://mbd.baidu.com/newspage/data/videolanding?nid=sv_10732939981596404954

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On May 28th 2021, when Chinese President was addressing a meeting conflating the general assemblies of the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the national congress of the China Association for Science and Technology at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, , he  encouraged us to set up Science Projects through non-governmental approaches

 

For us, what is the SSBSP Science Project?

 

In the last two days of May, we held an urgent working meeting to discuss the project. After the discussion, we felt that the first priority was to establish the South-South Biodiversity Science Project (SSBSP). Why? First of all, it is our role as China’s only national scientific society in the field of biodiversity. Besides, “South-South" international cooperation has long been be our  core working area. For the Science Project, we could and should take the lead. We have already laid some groundwork, with ongoing biodiversity observations in Africa, Asia (especially Southeast Asia and Central Asia), Latin America, and Oceania. On top of this foundation, we are also continuously involved in scientific research on local biodiversity. South-South Biodiversity Science Project came into being accordingly.

 

What does the SSBSP encompass and what is our focus?

 

Recently, I attended the  II High- Level Conference of the Americas on the Illegal Wildlife Trade , which was attended by dozens of environment ministers, officials and experts from dozens of countries. Although it was a regional conference, I was able to present a hot issue of international concern regarding illegal wildlife trade. The conference was co-organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Columbia and UK Government. Our current science projects need to serve sustainable economic and social development, and more importantly, our global scientific issues.

Today, climate change and biodiversity loss are at the forefront that need our concern. At this conference I presented our insights - about the challenges and threats that biodiversity issues are now facing. A large number of challenges and threats come from three categories: food; medicine; and collection, including furniture collection, such as the collection of mahogany furniture, and how this will affect global biodiversity? The need for excessive collection, resulted in a large number of old trees, large trees and endangered species being cut down & used commercially on a large scale. Such capitalist, market-oriented economy and industrial civilization-driven utilization has greatly impacted the preservation of forests, which in turn affects the safety of a variety of other life in the forest. In addition to furniture collecting, there is jewelry, ivory and tiger bone collecting, and many people like to raise exotic pets. The market for exotic pets is growing exponentially as it poses a growing threat to biodiversity; some experts even tout the boom of the exotic pet industry as a political achievement, believing that it can drive the market economy and expand the market. This is a very wrong concept.

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It was very frustrating that till now none of the Aichi Targets have been fully accomplished, despite the fact that the whole world has worked for them for 10 years.

In terms of biodiversity, the first part of the SSBSP is to solve the problems of the present. What are the problems? The causes, which I’ve mentioned above, and what are the deeper causes? Certification. For example, in Madagascar we’ve witnessed a dramatic change during the past four decades: 40 years ago, its forest coverage rate was over 90%, while in recent years this has been below 20%. Could other life survive without forests? Just imagine how we humans will survive after all such habitats disappear on earth?

Our  literature review found that many years ago, probably in 1996, the identification of a mahogany from Madagascar into rosewood played a role in pushing the matter. This led to a large-scale mahogany logging and import trade. Now the experts have determined that it is not rosewood, but a kind of “酸枝木”. But do we now have anyone to pursue the wrong identification at the time, even if it was “酸枝木”, and what kind of attitude should we take? 

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Recently we have been discussing the Forestry Law and its implementing regulations. We believe that corporate social responsibility (CSR) should be included into the Law. What if companies have the responsibility to define whether their actions are illegal and whether the species, they exploit are species restricted from international trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (aka the Washington Convention)? And it's not just a matter of getting a stamp from the relevant authorities. We have learned that some species are not difficult to obtain in South-South countries. Enterprises should take full responsibility for their behavior and issue a corresponding statement, including how they will investigate? And what are the results?

 

These constitute the first major part of our "South-South Biodiversity Science Project", which is the scientific research of real-life problems, and then the policy advocacy. For example, in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the original term "pangolin scales" refers to the "Chinese pangolin". While now the African pangolins have been traded and transported illegally on a large scale. We need to study these issues clearly, should we ban pangolin scales from being approved for medicine? At least we should prohibit the approval of African pangolin scales into Chinese medicine, since there is no scientific and empirical basis for this, and our ancestors did not use any African pangolin product into medicine on a large scale.

The second part is the impact of industrial and economic development on biodiversity. In recent years, miningactivities, railroads constructions, electric power, urbanisation and development zones have been increasingly developed in South-South countries. We need to carefully study the lessons learned from the development of developed and developing countries, taking biodiversity conservation into account while developing economy.

 

The third segment is relatively traditional biodiversity science, including biodiversity assessment and biodiversity surveys. By participating in our “South-South Biodiversity Science Project”, you are likely to discover new species. In addition to biodiversity assessment and survey, there are also conservation and biodiversity adaptation. With dramatic climate change, rapid changes in species diversity are inevitable. So how should we treat Invasive Alien Species (IAS)? How should we react to the changes caused by natural variability? In addition, we need to focus on biodiversity adaptation and biodiversity offset/compensation. Together, these form the third part of our SSBSP.

Welcome to our South-South Biodiversity Science Project. At the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) in Kunming in October 2021, Chinese President launched an important initiative in which the Chinese government will take the lead in contributing 1.5 billion RMB to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund. He pointed out in his report that the Kunming Biodiversity Fund is to support developing countries in their biodiversity efforts. This is a great initiative. There is no doubt that our SSBSP and the Kunming Biodiversity Fund have the same starting point and purpose.

 

We are calling for participation in our “South-South Biodiversity Science Project” in various forms; not only traditional South-South researchers, biodiversity scientists, but also scientists from economics, sociology, education, and many other fields who are interested in our SSBSP are welcome. We also need the participation of civil society, including citizen scientists, youth, and activists. Of course, we also welcome the private sector and other stakeholders to participate. If your company does business in developing countries, in to your CSR and ESG, biodiversity conservation is of critical importance. Let's work together on the SSBSP to make this a better world for all life. Thank you!

 

Translator: Samantha

Editor: Linda

Contact: V10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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