From December 14 to 18, the 7th International EcoSummit 2024 was successfully held at the Zhengzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center. This summit, themed " Eco-Civilization for a Sustainable and Desirable Future" brought together over 1,000 experts and scholars from 46 countries and regions around the world, with more than 100 plenary sessions and parallel forums. Attendees collectively explored key issues such as biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, basin ecological security, ecosystem services, and progressive ecological restoration etc. Numerous practical cases like basin ecological protection and high-quality development, recovery of river and lake ecological environments, sustainable agricultural cultivation, protection and utilization of forest ecosystems, and the integrated governance of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts were discussed. As a co-organizer of the summit, UNEP-IEMP hosted thePlenary Panel on "Ecosystem-based approaches to address the triple planetary crisis " on December 18.
The Plenary Panel specifically discussed the complex relationships between social and ecological systems and explored how to increase the application of ecosystem-based approaches (EBA) in addressing the triple planetary crisis and achieving the 2030 Agenda. It paid special attention to the nexus of climate change, ecosystem services, and sustainable livelihoods, as well as research, practices, and policies at local, national, regional, and international levels. Academician Yongguan Zhu, Director of the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Feng Zhou, Dean of the School of Geography and Remote Sensing at Hohai University, Arief Rabik, Executive Director of the Bamboo Village Trust, and Dr. Yang Xia, Senior Editor at the Springer Nature, participated as experts in the Plenary Panel. The Plenary Panel was chaired by Prof. Linxiu Zhang, Director of UNEP-IEMP. The experts discussed the role of EBA in addressing the triple planetary crisis and achieving the 2030 Agenda, as well as the opportunities and challenges that EBA will face in the future. In the summary, Director Linxiu Zhang emphasized that in EBA practices, it is necessary to strengthen solution-oriented approaches, multi-data integration, multi-regional practices, multi-stakeholder involvement, and sciencefor policy in order to better leverage the role of EBA in addressing the triple planetary crisis and achieving the 2030 Agenda.
Group photo of the Plenary Panelists
