Eleanor Whittle

During an interview on the sidelines of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Kunming, Yunnan Province, on October 14, Eleanor Whittle, Climate and Natural Resources Advisor of the British Embassy in China, shared her thoughts on why China-UK biodiversity cooperation is relevant. This is an edited excerpt of her views:

The China-UK collaboration on biodiversity is a longstanding one. Since 2014, we've had the forest governance program, which looks at the risks associated with forest-related commodities that include things like timber, palm oil and rubber. Additionally, we've been working with different stakeholders across China to try and address these risks. We hope to continue our close cooperation with China on these issues, including a continuation of the dialogue between producer and consumer countries.

Furthermore, through research and innovation, the two countries have been working on modeling that analyzes how climate change impacts biodiversity in southwest China. Also, our government has commissioned an independent review of the economics of this natural variety; representing China on the global expert panel, was Professor Justin Lin from Peking University. The review provides recommendations to governments about how to better account for nature and biodiversity throughout the economic decision-making process. I consider this a real turning point. Once we understood the economics of climate change, we started to take real action. I hope the same will apply to the issue of biodiversity. Linked to that is green finance. We have collaborated closely with China on that. Mainstreaming biodiversity is not only up to governments; it also requires the private sector and financial institutions.

The really good news is that China released a white paper entitled Biodiversity Conservation in China prior to the COP15 taking place. This demonstrates the top priority that China has assigned to biodiversity conservation. Something I'm interested in is the ecological redlining initiative. And I think China actually has a lot to share with the international community on this, because it is an incredibly challenging approach to try and implement something at such a large national scale.

We know that a collapse of the ecosystem could cost $3 trillion a year by 2030. It's economically more responsible to start managing the crisis in a proper manner, rather than having to deal with the impact it will have--and already has had.

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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