China vows to include biodiversity in economic plans as UN talks begin

KUNMING, China: China will incorporate biodiversity protection in the development plans of all of its regions and sectors and draw up a national conservation strategy, Vice Premier Han Zheng said at the opening of U.N. biodiversity talks on Monday.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention on Biological Protection, told the opening of the meeting in the city of Kunming, that the world had reached "a moment of truth" when it comes to protecting its ecosystems.

China has vowed to make protecting nature a priority after decades of rapid development and urbanisation devastated ecosystems, put dozens of species on the brink of extinction and raised the risk of lethal zoonotic diseases like COVID-19.