Hosted by CBCGDF, “The Mainstreaming of Agricultural Biodiversity and ITPGRFA” Seminar was Held Successfully in Beijing- 中国生物多样性保护与绿色发展基金会

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Hosted by CBCGDF, “The Mainstreaming of Agricultural Biodiversity and ITPGRFA” Seminar was Held Successfully in Beijing

2019/7/14 14:19:00 本站

In order to further respond positively to General Secretary Xi Jinping's call for "pursuing the construction of global ecological civilization, participating in global environmental governance in depth and finding solutions for world environmental protection and sustainable development", enhancing China's voice in global environmental governance, and contribute to China's sustainable development in the field of food and agriculture. On the morning of 10 July, the Seminar on Mainstreaming Agricultural Biodiversity and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture organized by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) was held in Beijing.

The Seminar was strongly supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the University of International Business and Economics. At the meeting, Rene Castro, Assistant Director-General of the FAO, Ding Zhijie, Vice-President of the University of International Business and Economics, Zhang Xinyou, Deputy Director of the NPC Standing Committee of Chongren County, and Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of the CBCGDF, delivered speeches. Kent Nnadozie, Secretary-General of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), Representative of FAO in China, Yang Qingwen, Researcher of Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhang Lijian, deputy director of the Expert Committee on Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Risk Assessment, and others attended the seminar. Wang Huo, Deputy Secretary-General of CBCGDF, presided over the meeting.

The meeting focused on in-depth exchanges, communication and discussion of technical puzzles and operational difficulties of China's accession to ITPGRFA, providing a scientific and objective expert discussion platform for China's accession to ITPGRFA, and exploring the question that "how to mainstream the Agricultural Biodiversity" under the background of the upcoming Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15). At the meeting, participants from all sides fully exchanged the opportunities in the negotiation of international treaties on Agriculture, which laid the foundation for China's participation in global environmental governance in the field of food and agriculture, helping China's agricultural security, and promoting China's more active and effective accession to ITPGRFA.

At the meeting, Mr. Kent Nnadozie, the Secretary of ITPGRFA, delivered a keynote presentation on world food crops, emphasizing that the conservation of plant genetic diversity in food and agriculture is a business benefit to the global public interest. Participants made special speeches on their own areas of research, including food and agriculture resources and environment, quality and safety of agricultural products, effective supply of agricultural products, risk of agricultural biodiversity and sustainable management, and poverty alleviation of crops. Experts' speeches will be published on CBCGDF’s various media platforms.

This seminar follows up to the one on "Conservation and Benefit Sharing of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and Agricultural Biodiversity after 2020", organized by CBCGDF in March this year. The two meetings have played an important role in promoting China's accession to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. On the basis of the previous meeting, the purpose of this meeting is to discuss and communicate in depth the pros and cons of China's accession to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and to give scientific and objective expert opinions.

China is one of the eight major crop origin areas in the world. It has a long-term and profound meaning to protect, develop and make good use of China's food and crop genetic resources. Similarly, as a big agricultural country, China also needs to further grow into a powerful agricultural country by protecting the genetic resources and sharing benefits. As mentioned in the 2004 FAO report, the diversity of agricultural production systems has disappeared by 75%, or three-quarters, in the last 100 years. Reduced biodiversity means that animals and plants are more susceptible to pests and diseases. Under the influence of global warming, agricultural production and security are also facing severe challenges. In September 2017, at the First National Academic Symposium on Crop Diversity (Population) organized by CBCGDF, many academicians and professors in the field of agriculture in China fully recognized this issue and carried out discussions around the relationship between crop varieties and agro-ecosystem security.

In February 2019, the FAO Report on the State of World Food and Agricultural Biodiversity warned us once again that biodiversity, which is vital to food and agriculture, is disappearing day by day. Food and agricultural biodiversity encompass all species that can support food systems and sustain the livelihoods of food growers or providers. Its biodiversity is essential for ensuring global food security, supporting healthy and nutritious diets, and improving rural livelihoods. Consequently, biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of food and agriculture, as well as international cooperation in this field, are also an extremely important part of the global ecological civilization. As a professional organization in the field of biodiversity conservation and ITPGRFA observer, CBCGDF will continue to vigorously promote the work in this field as an important part of promoting the construction of ecological civilization in China.

Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF, concluded that the meeting provided an open and shared exchange platform for experts. On the basis of the meeting, CBCGDF will continue to actively contact relevant departments. At the CBD COP15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2020, FAO and CBCGDF will jointly hold a side event on genetic diversity for food and agriculture and look forward to more people participating in it.

Particularly worth mentioning is that this meeting actively expands the spirit of "Green Meeting Index", fully practices the spirit of sustainability in the aspects of transportation, diet, and layout of the meeting, notifies all participants in advance in the preparatory stage, suggests green travel, bring your own water cups, etc. And the meeting does not provide bottled water. The meeting also took "good food" as the highlight, integrating the concept of sustainable diet into the tea break and lunch arrangements of the meeting. The Green Food Fund carefully arranged "good food" catering for the participants. The efforts made in resource conservation and sustainable use are also expected to play a supporting role in promoting China's Deep Participation in global environmental governance.