Ready To Disburse IDR 3.31 Trillion Funds For Biological Conservation, President Xi Jinping Insinuates The US To Comply With International Rules

President of China Xi Jinping. (Wikimedia Commons/Palácio do Planalto)

JAKARTA - China on Tuesday pledged to inject $233 million into a new fund to protect biodiversity in developing countries, during a United Nations conservation summit, despite disagreements among donors. key to the initiative.

Beijing has sought to play a more prominent role internationally in biodiversity conservation in recent years.

China's readiness to disburse these funds comes as delegates from about 195 countries gather in the southern Chinese city of Kunming for the first two-part summit on the protection of plants, animals and ecosystems.

The Summit aims to establish a new agreement setting targets for 2050 and 2030.

"China will take the lead in establishing the Kunming biodiversity fund with a capital contribution of 1.5 billion yuan (approximately US$233 million), to support biodiversity conservation goals in developing countries," Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a speech at the conference. COP15 on Tuesday, citing France 24 from AFP October 12.

"China calls on all parties to contribute to the fund," President Xi Jinping continued.

The main proposal debated at the conference was the '30 by 30' agenda which would grant 30 percent of the Earth's land and oceans protected status by 2030.

Global spending on protecting and restoring nature will need to triple this decade to about US$350 billion per year by 2030, jumping to US$536 billion by 2050 to meet this target, a UN report said in May.

However, some rich country donors say new funds for conservation are not needed, as the UN's Global Environment Facility has helped developing countries finance green projects.

Funding issues will be discussed at negotiations in Geneva in January 2022 and then at the second part of the summit in April and May next year.

In his Tuesday speech, President Xi Jinping also criticized the United States, saying, "We must practice true multilateralism and abide by international rules that are not to be exploited or disposed of at will."

To note, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity has been ratified by 195 countries and the European Union, with the parties meeting every two years. The biodiversity discussions at COP15 are separate from the COP26 summit due to begin next month in Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders are under pressure to act on the climate crisis.