Abstract:

Internationally, there are a series of conventions (including treaties and agreements) related to biodiversity conservation, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention). At the international level, these are implemented by different United Nation’s organizations and at the national level by various responding ministries. In China, the leading authorities for implementing the biodiversity-related conventions are the ministries of environmental protection, forestry, agriculture, etc. However, there is very little communication and coordination among the leading ministries for participation in international negotiations and domestic implementation, resulting in the inconformity of external policies and repetition of internal implementation actions. In this paper, the explicit relations between the conventions’ objectives and biodiversity conservation are clarified, and based on existing domestic coordination mechanisms for each convention implementation in China, the current mechanism is to establish a multi-ministerial coordination committee coupled with an administrative body for actions set in the responsible ministry. Furthermore, the problems often existing in the convention implementation are revealed as follows: (1) shortage of communication and coordination among the competent authorities leading conventions’ implementation; (2) lack of information sharing mechanism among the relevant ministries; and (3) inadequate mutual support from the partner ministries. Finally, it is proposed, in this paper, to establish a synergy strategy at the national level for implementation of the conventions related to biodiversity, including setting up a synergy working group special for coordinating the state positions for the conventions’ intergovernmental negotiations on biodiversity issues and for enhancing the efficiency of the implementation actions by integrating the efforts from relevant ministries, as well as establishment of national clearing-house mechanism for biodiversity.

Key words: biodiversity, international negotiation, conventions’ implementation, national strategy, China