COP15: Life flower still blooms in Yunnan
“The life flower shows a left hand of human lifting a flower on the palm. Some of my female colleagues say this must be a rose because it is romantic," said You Wei, general manager of Yunnan Cultural Industry Investment Holding Co., Ltd, who also served as the formal director of Kunming Expo Garden.
On May 18, a launch ceremony was held in Kunming World Horticulture Expo Garden themed as “Exploring Life Flower — scientists show you the bio-diversity beauty in Yunnan". The life flower was the emblem of the International Horticultural Exposition Kunming, China in 1999.
At that time, the Chinese organization committee sent out the collection of emblems to the whole world, and more than 200,000 submissions were collected. At last, “The life flower” was selected. It represents the movement of nebula, atmosphere, and wind renders the blossoms of life, symbolizing the theme of expo: harmonious co-existence between man and nature.
22 years later, Yunnan’s Kunming will host the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in October 2021. The theme of the conference is “Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.”
On this special occasion, this 22-year blooming of “life flower” attracted a lot of attention. Because it has aroused the common concern of people from different fields in different countries on the harmony between human and nature.
“Life flower” was also the theme of the ceremony. There were many activities that night, including art show, ethnic performance, speeches delivered by professors Xu and farmer painter Zhuo Liping briefing on bio-diversity paintings.
However, the most exciting part was stories shared by international media. Reporters with the Pakistani, Russian, Lao and Vietnamese media outlets in China and a professor from South Africa told their experience of biodiversity of their country and China.
Polina Silicheva, a Russian reporter at the Hainan International Communication Center said,“May 22 is the international Biodiversity Day of UN. In Russia, protecting biodiversity is the strategic goal of development. It is not only the responsibility of government and society, but also it is everyone’s responsibility.” She speaks good English but insisted on speaking Chinese to make herself understood easily.
“Russia is the biggest country in the world, making up one eighth of the world’s continent. The biodiversity of flora and fauna shows high abundance. The Russian government is taking measures to strengthen the biodiversity conservation, such as establishing natural reserve, restoration center and conservation center.”
Peter, a scientist from South Africa shared his research on mycology in Yunnan. He didn’t know anything about Yunnan’s biodiversity until he came to Yunnan 11 years ago. He found that Yunnan has a great number of mushrooms so he started to be interested on fungus.
The mushroom application prospect is so broad that it takes several decades to know the benefits. I believe Yunnan is a good place to do research on biodiversity.
JARUWAN UDOMSAB, a Thai online celebrity has lived in Kunming for 10 years. As a new citizen of Kunming, she said “All kinds of flowers can be seen in different seasons. Interestingly, flowers can not only be enjoyed but also can be tasted. Flowers cakes are made from roses and there are chrysanthemum pedals in the cross-bridge rice noodles.”
When she went to work every morning, she heard birds singing along the way. She hoped that Thailand and China should make more cooperation on biodiversity research in various areas.
DO VI SA, a journalist with the Vietnamese Báo Nhân Dân, said rural region was an important place to take biodiversity conservation. He was born and raised in the countryside and he shared the stories about happy times in his childhood.
However, he moved to big city to live for years. After 20 years, when he came back with his son, they found the beautiful environment was destroyed. He said that“everyone should protect the environment, so our kids can have the chance to live in harmony with nature.”
PHOMMOUNY PHETSAMONE, a correspondent with the Pathet Lao News Agency. She has been in China for 3 years and went to Shanghai Zoo before. She said China is rich in biodiversity, but the conservation should be a global cooperation.
She thinks human’s life is in line with ecosystem on the earth. The biodiversity is being threatened because of climate change. “Protecting the environment is helping humans”.
ASGHAR MUHAMMAD, a reporter with the Associated Press of Pakistan, introduced us the achievement that Pakistan has done.
In Pakistan, there was a “One Million Tree” project. Hunting and deforestation were forbidden. He also appreciated the policy that China made to protect the biodiversity.
Reporting by Zhang Yinling, Yao Chengcheng and Li Zha (Yunnan Net); Trans-editing by Mo Yingyi