15/10/2022
ASEAN-China Cooperation on Biodiversity Conservation: Achievements and Challenges
Biodiversity conservation is one of the significant cooperation areas between ASEAN and China. In recent years, ASEAN and China have adopted several joint declarations emphasizing the need to strengthen cooperation in biodiversity conservation. In addition, China and ASEAN also established China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Center in 2010. However, despite several cooperation frameworks, biodiversity loss in ASEAN and China still was alarming to the UN Environmental program and other stakeholders. A question arises: What’s wrong with ASEAN-China cooperation on biodiversity conservation?
Biodiversity conservation was emphasized during China-ASEAN Leader Summits in 2009 and 2010, as Premier Wen Jiabao proposed to expand cooperation areas into biodiversity conservation and renewable energy aspects. Consequently, biodiversity conservation became one of the prioritized cooperation areas in the ASEAN-China Strategy on Environmental Cooperation (2009-2015). Besides this, China and ASEAN also utilize the China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation or the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity to enhance capacity in biodiversity conservation.
Even though China and ASEAN have strengthened cooperation on biodiversity conservation through establishing relevant institutes or joint projects, both sides still face difficulties in addressing biodiversity loss. One of the main challenges comes from legislative issues. China has already enacted many laws related to environmental protection, for instance, the marine environmental protection act in 1999 and the wildlife protection act in 1998. However, China still lacks comprehensive and systematic regulations on biodiversity issues. Apart from China, ASEAN countries also face loopholes in domestic laws and regulations about biodiversity conservation.
In addition to legal loopholes, ineffective coordination within sub-national levels and capacity gaps impede progress between ASEAN and China to tackle biodiversity loss. And also, many countries do not emphasize biodiversity in wetland areas, which seriously affects policy implementation to address deforestation and water contamination.
In summary, China and ASEAN have some achievements in facilitating cooperation on biodiversity conservation. Yet, loopholes in domestic regulation, capacity gaps, lack of sufficient funding mechanisms, and deficiency of coordination at a provincial level still impede progress. Thus, China and ASEAN need to improve coordination efficiency and fill capacity gaps in biodiversity conservation.
Reference
张洁清.(2017).中国与东盟的环境合作：历史、现状与未来. 中国国际战略评论(00),197-207.
陈敏 & 涂道勇.(2019).深化中国—东盟生物多样性保护合作的思考. 国际经济合作(05),86-93.
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