The 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) wrapped up in Cali, Colombia, on Friday night, with a historic decision on recognizing indigenous peoples' role in protecting nature.
Three major consensuses were reached at the conference, according to Maria Susana Muhamad Gonzalez, Colombia's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development.
They are establishing a subsidiary body that will include indigenous peoples and local communities in future talks and decisions on nature conservation, recognizing the important role of African descents in the protection of nature, and drawing up work plans for local communities up to 2030.
At the conference, eight governments pledged an additional 163 million U.S. dollars to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), bringing the total amount to about 400 million U.S. dollars. However, this is still far short of the billions of dollars needed to tackle plummeting global biodiversity.
Global wildlife populations have plunged on average by 73 percent in 50 years, according to the biennial Living Planet report released by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London in October.
The COP16 lasted 12 days, featuring 600 academic events and attracting the participation of 31,000 people, including government leaders and officials, community members, environmental experts and scholars.
UN biodiversity conference concludes in Colombia
The Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge (Xiamen section) entered a new phase of marine construction on Monday morning, marked by the completion of the east tower's piling work of the Liuwudian Channel Bridge, a pivotal component of the project, in Xiamen of Fujian Province in east China.
The Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge (Xiamen section) spans 17.34 km and is designed to link the Xiamen island with the Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport that is currently under construction. The Liuwudian Channel Bridge is the province's first offshore suspension bridge and largest span bridge with a total length of 1,948 meters and a main span of 928 meters in length.
The pile foundation of the east bridge tower was completed on Monday after four months of work, while that of the west one is expected to finish at the end of this month.
Confronted with complex geological conditions and the challenge of transporting materials to the offshore construction site, the team newly built a large-scale mixing station and employed six rotary drilling rigs which operated around the clock.
With a total investment of 37.27 billion yuan (about 5.12 billion U.S. dollars), the Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge (Xiamen section) will become the most efficient connection between the Xiamen island and the Xiang'an Airport. Once completed, it will ease traffic congestion and greatly enhance transport efficiency in the region.
The Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge (Xiamen section) started construction in October 2023, and is expected to be completed simultaneously with the Xiang'an Airport Expressway in 2026.
Kinmen is an important hub for interaction across the Taiwan Strait. Growing trade and commercial links between Kinmen and Xiamen have made the building of the bridge a common desire of many people in the region.
Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge enters marine construction stage
