Professor Fred Dubee, director of the international working committee of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), led CBCGDF delegation attended the 7th Kubuqi International Desert Forum (KIDF) from 26-28 July 2019.
On 30 July 2019, Fred came to CBCGDF office to deliver a report and exchanged with Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF on the KIDF and its outcomes.
Themed with “Greening the Belt and Road, the Building of Ecological Civilization”, the 7th KIDF focused on issues causing major concern in the international community, including cooperation on desertification prevention in countries along the “Belt and Road”, climate change, poverty alleviation, innovation and development of green finance, and biodiversity and desertification control.
In the morning of 27 July, CBCGDF delegation attended a High-Level Plenary Session of the forum. It was themed “Green Belt and Road & Building a Community with Shared Future for Mankind”, which was about: Regarding the implementation of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative, attendees discussed how to promote a community with a shared future for mankind by building ecological progress, and probe into the cooperation mechanisms, market development, financial security and multilateral exchanges.
In the afternoon, they attended Dialogue 1: Green Finance and Sustainable Ecological Restoration. The panelists discussed the role, opportunities and challenges of developing green finance in sustainable development of ecological restoration. As well as Dialogue 2: Scientific and Technological Innovation in Ecological Restoration. The panelists discussed on ecological restoration, ecological industrialization technology system: integrated application of ecological technology, such as artificial intelligence, big data, biological diversity, biotechnology, water-saving technology and contaminated soil improvement, ecological energy and ecological monitoring, Internet and Internet of things application, demonstration project cooperation, etc.
Later that day, they attended the UNCCD Land for Life Award Ceremony 2019, and experienced Kubuqi a bit. They visited the exhibition of ecological restoration technology, prehistoric giants, explored the legendary path of Marco Polo, and learned about the years intellectual youth fighting against the desert, and wandered in the exotic flowers and grasses always blooming in the four seasons.
On 28 July, they attended the Academic Forum. Experts shared academic achievements in the fields of desertification control, ecological restoration and biodiversity and etc.; also shared technological innovation with entrepreneurs.
They also joined a field trip to Kubuqi desert ecological economic zone.
During the event, on behalf of CBCGDF, Fred met with officials from the organizers, the United Nations agencies, representatives of academic sector, multiple stakeholders, etc. Fred also exchanged with them and expressed his points views toward the forum on behalf of CBCGDF, about desertification control, about the international cooperation along the Belt and Road, and other topics.
Throughout the forum, the CBCGDF delegation held friendly discussions with new and old friends around the current state of global desertification control and biodiversity conservation. And conducted in-depth discussion on future cooperation in the field of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
After listening to Fred's report, Dr. Zhou analyzed the problems in this forum and proposed the deployment of the next step work of CBCGDF.
Dr. Zhou suggested that biodiversity conservation should be emphasized in biodiversity friendly matter. We advocate the Nature-based Solution (NbS), or Human-based Solution (HbS). In the face of the crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss, we put forward these concepts, that is, from the perspective of “people” to care about natural. In fact, both the crisis of rapid loss of biodiversity and the climate change crisis are caused by humans. From the achievements, the change of “me” can reverse the crisis of biodiversity and climate, even “me” as a consumer, forcing enterprises, social organizations, governments, international organizations and the United Nations to change. The Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nation's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD CoP15) will be held in 2020. We are willing to start from our own experience, promote the development of domestic biodiversity conservation work, and build close and good cooperative relations with all parties. We look forward to seeing the achievement of the global biodiversity framework beyond 2020.
As the only large international forum in the world dedicated to promoting global desertification control and green economic development, the event of the KIDF has been recognized by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as a platform for exchange and the promotion of ideas on global desertification control and green economic development.
(Photo credit: CBCGDF)
Fred joined a field trip to Kubuqi desert ecological economic zone.
With Sha Zukang the former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations (left second)
With Professor de Jager Nautilus, the Netherlands
With Caroline Galipeau, Land for Life Programme, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
With the winner of First prize of 2019 Land for Life Award: MERET project of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia
With Kubuqi guides university students from Baotou, Inner Mongolia
At the gala dinner with the former Deputy Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and former Executive Secretary AEWA Bert Lenten (middle) and CBCGDF representatives
(Photos credit: Fred Dubee, please indicate the source.)
By / Niu Jingmei