KUWAIT, April 22 (KUNA) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for building a community with a shared future for mankind and "our own" need to secure sustainable development. Delivering a speech at the leaders' summit on climate through videoconference, Xi said the summit is a change to share views on climate change and discuss means of overcoming challenges in this matter and methods of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. "All things that grow live in harmony and benefit from the nourishment of Nature," he pointed out, according to remarks issued by Xinhua.
He noted that China has committed to move from carbon peak to carbon neutrality in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries, and that requires extraordinarily hard efforts from China.
"Green mountains are gold mountains. To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to improve the environment is to boost productivity - the truth is as simple as that. We must abandon development models that harm or undermine the environment, and must say no to shortsighted approaches of going after near-term development gains at the expense of the environment," he said.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has added difficulty to economic and social development across countries. "Faced with unprecedented challenges in global environmental governance, the international community needs to come up with unprecedented ambition and action. We need to act with a sense of responsibility and unity, and work together to foster a community of life for man and Nature," he stated.
"We need to work on the basis of international law, follow the principle of equity and justice, and focus on effective actions." "We need to uphold the UN-centered international system, comply with the objectives and principles laid out in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement, and strive to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." "We need to each take stronger actions, strengthen partnerships and cooperation, learn from each other and make common progress in the new journey toward global carbon neutrality. In this process, we must join hands, not point fingers at each other; we must maintain continuity, not reverse course easily; and we must honor commitments, not go back on promises," he said.
As a participant, contributor and trailblazer in global ecological conservation, China is firmly committed to putting multilateralism into action and promoting a fair and equitable system of global environmental governance for win-win cooperation. China will host COP15 to the Convention on Biological Diversity this October and looks forward to working with all parties to enhance global governance on biodiversity. "We support COP26 to the UNFCCC in achieving positive outcomes," he added. (end) mab.hm