UN Biodiversity Conference to be relocated from China to Canada

BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The second phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) will be held in Montreal, Canada from December 5 to 17 this year, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Tuesday.

Originally set for Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, in April this year, the meeting was postponed and relocated due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

China will continue to act as chair of COP15 in guiding substantive and political affairs, according to the ministry.

The first phase of COP15 was successfully held both online and offline in Kunming last October. Its achievements provided strong political impetus to global biodiversity governance and the adoption of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

China attaches great importance to biodiversity protection and will continue to work with all parties and stakeholders in the second phase of COP15 to advance negotiations on the global biodiversity framework and to make more contributions to building a shared future for all life.