Learningfrom China to protect nature

The country’s ecological redlines policy is creating newprotections and a model for sustainable land-use planning elsewhere, writesGuido Schmidt-Traub

向中国学习“生态红线”

中国的生态红线制度将扩大保护范围，并为其他地区的可持续土地利用规划提供借鉴。

第一段：

In October this year, governments from around the world aredue to adopt a new global agreement to stop the loss of nature on land and inthe ocean, at the most important biodiversity conference in a decade – COP15.The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD), is set to be hosted by China in Kunming. It will bethe first time the country has hosted a major international environmentalmeeting.

The Kunming meeting should shine a spotlight on the state ofnature in the world, as well as draw attention to the situation in China andhow the government has responded domestically. China’s international interests,including the greening of the Belt and Road Initiative and its relationshipswith other major powers, may also play a critical role in shaping the processtowards Kunming and the follow up.

Another crucial UN meeting is scheduled for one month afterKunming. The UK is hosting COP26, this year’s meeting of the UN Framework Conventionon Climate Change, in Glasgow. Its overriding aim is to raise the level ofambition across countries in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

第二段：

While China appears to have successfully suppressed Covid-19,the virus is spreading nearly everywhere else. The economic consequences areprojected to be dire, and the emergency response is taking attention away fromthe issues of protecting biodiversity and halting climate change.

Both the Kunming and Glasgow meetings may have to bepostponed. Yet, the pressing issues they need to tackle will not go away. So atsome point in the near future governments will come together under Chinese andUK leadership to thrash out a strategy for protecting nature and the climate.

第三段：

Including land-use maps in climate and biodiversitystrategies would aid the success of the Kunming and Glasgow meetings. China canlead the way by referencing the land-use planning framework in its long-termclimate strategy.

There is a compelling narrative to be told that draws ondomestic achievements in China as well as a growing body of scientific evidence.

Such a strategy makes good sense from a climate and biodiversityperspective. But it is also good economic and foreign policy.