COP15 president: Post-2020 biodiversity framework taking shape

Q1: This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In your view, why is biodiversity important? And what challenges does the world face in this respect?

A1: As a Chinese saying goes, "All beings flourish when they live in harmony and receive nourishment from nature." Biodiversity lays the foundation for human survival and development.

Our clothing, food, shelter, means of travel - every aspect of our material and cultural lives - are closely related to biodiversity. Biodiversity provides us with rich food, fresh air, clean water and the necessities for production and life such as clothing, lumber and raw materials for medicine and industry. It makes the Earth full of vigor and vitality, fertilizes the Earth like water and roots (nourish a plant) and lays the foundation for sustainable economic development.

Data show that about half of global GDP is related to biodiversity. Over 3 billion people's livelihoods depend on marine and coastal biodiversity. Over 1.6 billion people's livelihoods depend on forests and non-lumber forest products. And about 70 percent of people living in poverty depend on activities like agriculture, fishing and forestry. As for healthcare, 70 percent of cancer drugs are natural products or originate from chemical compounds found in natural products.