Experts exchange views on global geopark, biosphere reserve sustainable development

CHANGCHUN, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 government officials, experts, scholars, and organization representatives from home and abroad have discussed global geopark and biosphere reserve sustainable development while gathering at the Changbai Mountain reserve in northeast China's Jilin Province on Saturday.

At the two-day Changbaishan Global Geopark and Biosphere Reserve Sustainable Development Conference, which kicked off on Saturday, participants exchanged views on ecological protection and harmonious development between humans and nature, and shared the latest achievements and ideas on geopark management, ecological protection, scientific research, and tourism development.

"Our world faces unprecedented challenges, from climate change and biodiversity loss to the pressures of rapid urbanization and unsustainable resource use," said Shahbaz Khan, director and representative to UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia.

"In this context, geoparks and biosphere reserves play a crucial role as models for sustainable living, where conservation and development are balanced to benefit both nature and people," he said.

"One issue that concerns us at this conference is that when a certain area has two or more listed land identities awarded by UNESCO, how we should carry out scientific and orderly management, achieve synergies between the listed places, and enable the local community to get rich and reasonable returns," said Wang Ding, secretary general of Chinese National Committee for Man and the Biosphere Programme, UNESCO.

"It is urgent that we select and cultivate a group of such areas with quality management as the goal and make them play a leading role," Wang added.

Gao Haizhu, head of the Jilin provincial forestry and grassland bureau, said that it is a common responsibility to promote the sustainable development of nature reserves, which requires the international community, organizations at all levels, and research institutions to strengthen cooperation.

According to Gao, Jilin now has 167 nature reserves covering 3.19 million hectares, accounting for about 16.7 percent of its total area. This makes it one of the provinces with the largest number and richest types of nature reserves in China.

On Friday, the Changbaishan Global Geopark was officially inaugurated at the first Jilin Tourism Development Conference held at the Changbai Mountain reserve after it was added to the UNESCO Global Geoparks network in March.

The inauguration of the Changbaishan Global Geopark will not only bring more development opportunities for the Changbai Mountain area but also inject new vitality into the global geopark network, said He Qingcheng, executive deputy director of China National Geoparks Network Office.

Since 2000, UNESCO has designated 213 global geoparks in 48 countries. China has 47 such geoparks, topping the global number.

"It's one of the hot spots for biodiversity in northeast China and even the temperate region of the world," said Jacob Wickham, a senior scientific researcher at A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Wickham has visited the Changbai Mountain reserve twice. "Since Changbai Mountain reserve was founded in the 1960s, it has really become a good model of conservation in the temperate areas of China," he said.