Chinese President Xi Jinping used his speech at an opening ceremony of the world's most important biodiversity conference to stress that "solidarity" was "the only effective way" to address global issues like protecting biodiversity. 

Speaking via videolink to more than 10,000 scientists, government officials and activists at the COP15 conference in Montreal, Xi welcomed the guests before going on to stress the need for cooperation in the world's fight against climate change. 

"Humanity lives in a community with a shared future," said Xi. 

"Be it in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, or in enhancing biodiversity protection and achieving sustainable development globally, solidarity and cooperation is the only effective way to address global challenges," he added.

Xi went on to say that the prosperity of human civilization hinged on maintaining its ecosystem and that the world had to work together to promote "harmonious co-existence between man and Nature... and create a clean and beautiful world for us all."

Part of this, he said was building global consensus on biodiversity protection by working together for the conclusion of the Post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the UN's global strategy for safeguarding nature and tackling climate change. 

Xi added that part of this had to be "turn[ing] ambitions into action", which meant supporting developing countries in being able to safeguard the future of their biodiversity. 

As well as promoting green development through biodiversity protection, he said the world needed to "speed up the green transition of development modes and lifestyle." 

Part of that, Xi added meant using the Global Development Initiative, an action plan for global economic recovery from recent setbacks, to deliver "greater benefits to people of all countries."

However, he stressed that there needed to be "a fair and equitable global order" on biodiversity protection, stressing the need to "firmly defend true multilateralism."

Turning to China's progress in biodiversity, he pointed to Beijing's "active efforts" in promoting ecological progress, for example its push to enforce ecological conservation "red lines," as well as its drive to create major biodiversity protection projects and protected national parks.

He also referenced China push to place a large number of endangered species under protection. 

"We have found a path of biodiversity protection with Chinese characteristics," he said.

He added that China would respond to the UN's Action Plan for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global greening plan encompassing all regions of the world, and launch a large number of new biodiversity protection and restoration projects. 

That would include international cooperation, he said, partly by providing support to developing countries through projects like the Belt and Road Initiative in a bid to "elevate global biodiversity governance to new heights."

Xi concluded his speech by reciting an old Chinese proverb: "All living things should flourish without harming each other; all ways of life should thrive without hindering each other." 

Again stressing global solidarity, the Chinese leader added that the world need to "work together to open a new chapter in building a community of all life on the Earth." 

That was the way, he said, to create "a bright future of harmonious co-existence between man and Nature."