As the initiators of the conference, CAS’s vice president Zhang Yaping, and Jonathan Bailey, executive vice president of the National Geographic Society, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. In his speech, Zhang Yaping emphasized that the global biodiversity is under threatening, and the community of scientists should conduct targeted research to mitigate and curb biodiversity loss, and actively propose solutions and suggestions to government departments. He called on the participants to support the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15) to be held in Kunming, China in 2020 through this seminar, and to make full use of this conference to showcase scientific research results. He hoped that the international colleagues actively carry out exchanges and cooperation to jointly promote global biodiversity protection. Zhang Yaping pointed out that as an important strategic scientific and technological team of the country, CAS valuesthe international cooperation. In the current international situation, only cooperation can better deal with global issues, and thus have greater social impact and benefit the entire humanity. Jonathan Bailey thanked the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society for hosting the conference. He hoped that through this meeting, the two parties will identify key research questions, jointly propose for the global biodiversity protection framework after 2020, and finally form proposals for relevant policy makers.

Invited reports from both parties are:

Introduction to the workshop, goals and logistics Enric Sala，Explorer In Residence and Executive Director, Last Wild Places National Geographic Society

Biodiversity status in China and key issues for post 2020 biodiversity framework Keping Ma，Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Global biodiversity status and trends Jane Smart，Global Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group

Protected Area-How to ensure the unity of man and nature Fuwen Wei，Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Protected areas: current status and benefits Enric Sala，Explorer in Residence, National Geographic Society,US

Eco-Function planning and Ecological Red lining in China Zhiyun Ouyang，Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

How much of the planet should be protected, where and why? Harvey Locke，Chair, Beyond Aichi Task Force, IUCN,Canada

Indigenous groups: rights and responsibilities Eduardo Brondizio，Distinguished Professor, Anthropology and Adjunct Professor, Department of Geography and School of Public and Environmental Affairs University of Indiana, US

The economics of a global system of protected areas Anthony Waldro，Visiting Bio-economist, Cambridge University, UK

Delegates also discussed ondrivers of biodiversity, status, protected areas, indigenous and local communities, cost of inaction, funding mechanisms (resource mobilization), rewilding or restoration and measurement of progress and other topics.

The leaders of two parties, Keping Ma and Jonathan Bailey, summarized the proposals of the 2020 biodiversity framework structure based on a two-day discussion. They believed that the post-2020 global biodiversity framework needs to rebuild the Aichi goals and merge the 20 goals into 16. They basically agreed with the WWF framework structure, and specifically pointed out that the post-2020 multi-frame framework should basically consist of main goals and related evaluation indicators, and the goals and evaluation indicators should be measurable.

The seminar was fruitful. The delegates suggested that in addition to submitting relevant COP15 conference group proposals to relevant national departments, including a report on the post-2020 biodiversity framework, they could combine the results of the discussion to write some more influential papers, and publish in Science Advance, National Science Review and Science in China-Life Science, forming scientific impact.