Scholars, officials expect more cooperation for green development

Scholars and officials from China and Central Asia have called for more Belt and Road cooperation to promote regional and global green development.

They made the remarks during the International Forum on Sustainable Development of Ecology and Environment in the Silk Road Economic Belt, which kicked off in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Monday, with over 300 participants from 17 countries and international organizations attending the event.

David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said via video that incorporating biodiversity considerations into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) “is not only a good idea; it is the only sustainable option.”

Cooper said the initiative could revolutionize global trade, enhance cultural exchange and even decrease poverty.

The BRI has been a platform of cooperation for a decade, said Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification. “Joint research ventures, laboratories and a thriving Silk Road of innovation represent significant milestones.”

Komiljon Tojibaev, director of the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, told Xinhua that the BRI has become a substantial international platform for economic, science and biodiversity conservation cooperation.

Stressing that China and Uzbekistan are both active in biodiversity research, Tojibaev noted that when the two sides combine their efforts, “We can be successful in saving biodiversity and our green planet, and even foster closer relations in tackling climate change and deforestation.”

The forum aims to share research achievements and explore new cooperation possibilities, regionally and globally, in biodiversity conservation, green agriculture, sustainable use of water resources and ecological governance.