Applied biodiversity science in China in the global context

Abstract

In 2021, the city of Kunming in Yunnan Province, China, will host the fifteenth meeting of Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The meeting is expected to be the pivotal moment at which the world’s governments agree on a new ‘Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’ (https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020).The framework is anticipated to be structured around a small number of outcome goals for 2050—a compelling case has been made that these should include explicit goals for ecosystems, species, genetic diversity and the contributions which nature makes to people [1]. These would support both the 2050 Vision of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the other seven biodiversity-related conventions (https://www.cbd.int/brc/), as essential components of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs). They would in turn be supported by perhaps 20 action targets for 2030, the implementation of which would be necessary and sufficient to deliver the goals. Crucially, this structure would incentivize the establishment of ‘science-based targets’ for explicit contributions towards the goals from all actors [2], allowing ‘mainstreaming’ of biodiversity across all of society. In the context of this essential role, which China will serve over 2021 and beyond in advancing the global commitment to safeguard life on Earth, Mi et al.’s sweeping overview of ‘the global significance of biodiversity science in China’ [3] is highly timely. They review the output led by Chinese institutions and published in interdisciplinary international journals over the last two decades (nearly 200 papers in total), across three broad categories: inventory and monitoring; processes and mechanisms; and threats and responses. Based on this, they propose priorities for future research, mechanisms for strengthening translation of science into biodiversity conservation practice, prospects for harnessing new technology and pathways for advancing international collaboration. Here, we build from the foundation establishedbyMi et al.’s impressive synthesis to offer suggestions as to five specific opportunities for strengthening the science–policy interface for biodiversity in China in the global context.