The UN summit on biodiversity, which was to be held in China, has been moved to Canada, the organizers announced on Tuesday, in the second major international event to be withdrawn from the Asian country, due to the “zero Covid” policy.
The UN secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity and China’s environment ministry said in separate statements that the meeting will be held in December in Montreal, where the UN agency is based.
China, which is chairing this round of meetings, has decided to move the event outside the country, “due to ongoing uncertainties related to the global pandemic”Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the convention’s executive secretary, said in a statement.
China’s environment ministry said the decision was made “after thoroughly considering the pandemic situation in China and abroad”.
Last month, China gave up hosting the Asian Football Nations Cup, scheduled for 2023. The country also indefinitely postponed the 2022 Asian Games, a sports competition that was scheduled to take place in September, in the city of Hangzhou.
China withdraws from hosting the Asian Football Nations Cup
China maintains a “zero cases” policy for Covid-19, which includes isolating all positive cases, mass testing and immediate lockdowns whenever an outbreak is detected. The country has borders practically closed since March 2020.
This approach increasingly contrasts with the situation in other countries, which have lifted restrictions and have begun to live with the disease.
The biodiversity summit is similar to the climate summit. The countries that have adhered to a global agreement on the preservation of the world’s animal and plant species meet periodically to try to achieve the objectives set.
The meeting was originally supposed to take place in the Chinese city of Kunming earlier this year, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
Source: Observadora
