YEREVAN, Armenia, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On Oct. 29 local time, State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company released "All Life Thrives in Shanghai: State Grid's Biodiversity Conservation Practices in Megacities • Shanghai" (the "Report") at the COP17 China Corner side event, "Cross-Sector Coexistence: Diverse Narratives Inspire Biodiversity Action," held alongside the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Yerevan, Armenia.
Hosted by the Center for Environmental Education and Communications of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the side event convened representatives from government, business, academia, the arts, social organizations and the public. With Shanghai as a key focus city, the Report offers a systematic response to global biodiversity action from the perspective of an energy infrastructure company.
Shanghai lies at the core of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and has recorded 534 wild bird species, about one-third of all bird species recorded in China. In this megacity serving more than 24 million people, over 5,800 kilometers of main-grid transmission lines highly overlap with 6,335 square kilometers of identified wetlands. Balancing energy security with biodiversity conservation is now a shared challenge for high-density cities worldwide.
Structured around the full grid life cycle, the Report outlines the company's practices across planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance, power dispatch, materials and supply chain management, digital enablement and corporate responsibility. It traces a complete pathway from avoiding ecological redlines at the planning stage, to restoring aquatic ecosystems during construction, safeguarding migratory bird habitats in operations, and supporting low-carbon electricity use through green dispatch. The Report also distills a collaborative mechanism of "One Hub with Multi-Party Driven by Three Chains," showing how biodiversity protection has been internalized from an environmental impact assessment requirement into management practice across the grid life cycle.
The Report reflects the vision of harmony between humanity and nature and stands as a vivid example of Chinese companies contributing to global biodiversity governance, offering high-density cities around the world a Chinese solution that can be planned, implemented and replicated.
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State Grid Shanghai Megacity Biodiversity Report Released at COP17
SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from Chinadailyhk.com
A photo exhibition on cultural and people-to-people exchanges in Asia opened in South China's Shenzhen on Monday, ahead of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which the city is hosting next month.
Co-organized by China Daily and the Asia News Network, the Changing Asia exhibition runs through Friday at the Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the theme "Moments of Connection: Smiles and Hands Across Asia-Pacific".
In her welcoming remarks, Liu Weiling, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the exhibition is an important cultural exchange event during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's "China Year" and aligns with this year's theme, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together".
"We look forward to using the lens as a medium to capture the warm moments of Asia-Pacific people working hand-in-hand and civilizations integrating with each other, vividly showcasing the moving picture of Asia-Pacific peoples united in solidarity and embracing inclusiveness and shared prosperity," Liu said.
Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, Hong Kong's deputy chief secretary for administration, said at the opening that the photographs document the Asia-Pacific's cultural landscape and development stories without relying on words.
The exhibition highlights the core spirit of this year's APEC and offers visitors a glimpse of the region's growing mutual understanding and connection, as well as achievements in inclusive, shared development, he said.
The edition received more than 2,200 entries from 330 photographers worldwide. After a rigorous selection process, 97 works by 54 photographers from 17 countries and regions were chosen to capture the "smiles" and "hands" of Asia-Pacific people and portray a shared future of inclusive prosperity.
"Photography has the extraordinary ability to bring seemingly distant worlds closer together, creating a silent dialogue between the people portrayed and those viewing the images," Emanuele Giacomini, a documentary photographer based in Italy, told China Daily.
A set of photos Giacomini took at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, was selected for the exhibition. The festival was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017.
Giacomini said the exhibition's theme reflects his approach to documentary photography: seeking human connections, spontaneous gestures and emotions that transcend cultural and religious differences.
At the exhibition's launch, Bill Condon, an adviser to think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, praised the quality and diversity of the photos. "It is really important to show and utilize the soft power of culture and art," he said. "The exhibition's Asian focus makes it so much more relevant and creates an opportunity for dialogue outside the formal meetings."
Nay Min Thu, a Myanmar student at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand, said he was impressed by the stories behind the photographs, particularly Shirkoo Mamagha's images capturing peaceful moments of nomadic communities in Iran. "I have learned that we should take photos that contain stories," said Thu, an amateur photographer.
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Changing Asia expo opens in Shenzhen
