Guilin City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region made a significant stride in environmental conservation by joining the CitiesWithNature initiative on Saturday. This event took place during the 8th Summit for Subnational Governments and Cities, a parallel gathering to the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia.
The CitiesWithNature platform is supported by renowned partners such as Local Governments for Sustainability, The Nature Conservancy, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. As the world's largest platform dedicated to urban and local biodiversity conservation, it offers a wealth of guidelines, tools, and case studies to help cities worldwide re-examine their relationship with nature and strive for harmonious coexistence.
Guilin joins a growing list of Chinese cities recognized by the initiative. During COP15 in 2022, six Chinese cities—including Kunming, Chengdu, Huzhou, Nanyang, Jiaxing, and Shenzhen—were honored. Guilin is the first city in Guangxi to receive this prestigious recognition, underscoring its pivotal role in biodiversity conservation within the region.
Guangxi is celebrated as one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots and ranks third in China for biodiversity richness. Guilin boasts an impressive array of 638 known terrestrial vertebrate species, 3,120 species of wild vascular plants, and 32 nature reserves covering an area of 624,100 hectares.
In recent years, Guilin has focused on transforming the Lijiang River Basin, which flows through the city, into a model for comprehensive river basin management both domestically and internationally. The city's ambition is to set a benchmark for ecological protection, offering the world a replicable \"Guilin Experience\" in sustainable urban development.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
