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Director of UNEP-IEMP made cases sharing at CBD COP15 side event “Ecological Civilization: Towards Harmony between Human and Nature”

  • 22 December 2022  |  News

On 14 December 2022, Montreal – side event “Ecological Civilization: Towards Harmony between Human and Nature” was successfully held at China Pavilion during the CBD COP15-2. Mr. ZHAO Yingmin, Vice Minister of Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Mr. David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary of CBD, and Mr. PAN Jiahua, Member of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences attended the opening ceremony. Dr. Linxiu Zhang, Director of UNEP-IEMP, shared good cases during the event.

In her presentation entitled “Ecosystem-based approaches for resilient livelihoods: evidence from developing countries”, Director Zhang said that biodiversity and sustainable use are widely discussed nowadays, and people should be aware of the importance of synergies between “climate, ecosystems and livelihoods”. She introduced UNEP-IEMP’s ongoing “climate, ecosystems and livelihoods” flagship program, which aims to improve human livelihoods through ecological restoration and provide better ecosystem service provisioning while adapting to climate change.

Using examples of “community-based fisheries in Nepal” and “smallholder seed systems from Naxi farmers in Yunnan”, Linxiu demonstrated that active community participation and multi-stakeholder collaboration play a key role in achieving biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. She also emphasized that natural and human capital are fundamental factors in improving household livelihoods and achieving sustainable livelihoods, and that diversification of farming and non-farming activities can not only increase household livelihoods but also improve the ability of households to adapt to change.

She stated that the use of nexus approach requires multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral efforts by scientists, producers, consumers, practitioners and policymakers to link scientific knowledge to policy implementation. She concluded by emphasizing that women’s contributions to conservation efforts should be recognized and that women’s empowerment is a major key to success.

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