The 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP13) was held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from 21 to 29 October 2018. On 21 October, the first day of the meeting, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF, who was invited to the meeting, met with representatives of the DPRK government delegation and had a fruitful exchange on CBCGDF’s close history with the DPRK and opportunities for future cooperation.
Dr. Zhou first congratulated the representatives on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s becoming a party to the Ramsar Convention in May this year. Dr. Zhou said that CBCGDF will support the DPRK’s work in the Ramsar Convention and looks forward to strengthening the non-governmental exchanges with the DPRK in the field of ecological and environmental protection, promoting the commonwealth between the two peoples and promoting the friendly exchanges between the two peoples for generations.
As President Xi Jinping said, the earth is the common home of mankind and all wildlife. Protecting wild migratory animals is often not a single country and often requires cross-border cooperation. In the in-depth exchanges, Dr. Zhou learned that DPRK had already had a dialogue with the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), but did not find a suitable opportunity at that time. The time is now mature, and the DPRK has revealed its willingness to join. Now, Dr. Zhou contacts Dr. Bradnee Chambers, the Executive Secretary of CMS, hoping to find an appropriate opportunity to establish a dialogue between the two parties. Dr. Chambers attached great importance to his matter and immediately responded to Dr. Zhou expressing his strong willingness to establish a dialogue with the DPRK and his gratitude.
Civil exchanges between CBCGDF and the DPRK:
◆ In the autumn of 2015, the Minister of Tourism of the DPRK visited China. During his visit to China, the leaders of CBCGDF met with the guests at the Beijing Zoo meeting room. During the meeting, the guests introduced a new natural museum in the DPRK Central Zoo, hoping to get the animal and plant specimens that the Chinese side would support to purchase, and hoping that CBCGDF can give a few Milu deers to the DPRK side.
◆ On April 7, 2016, the Chairman of CBCGDF Hu Deping met with Jiang Yuanzhe, Secretary General of the Asia Pacific Peace Committee of the DPRK, and Huang Yinhu, Director of the General Directorate of the Mount Kumgang Tourist Region. The DPRK delegation made a special trip to CBCGDF for its previous recommendations on biodiversity conservation. At the same time ,the DPRK side said that it would hold a photo exhibition at the opening ceremony of the DPRK Museum of Nature and present the photographs to the Museum. The representative of the DPRK warmly invited Chairman Hu to go to DPRK to attend the opening ceremony of the Museum of Nature.
◆On June 2, 2016, as one of the key tasks supporting the DPRK’s biodiversity conservation, CBCGDF actively promoted the renovation and expansion of the DPRK Central Zoo and the construction of the Natural Museum. To highlight the importance, CBCGDF presented Milu deers and cherry blossoms to the Central Zoo to enrich the biodiversity of the DPRK.
◆On April 11, 2018, the DPRK formally joined the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) and became the 36th partner of EAAFP. CBCGDF wrote an article expressing strong praise.
(Photo: CBCGDF)
Original Chinese article:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KVTCvsHmLILg5qgPf67oYg