On June 25, a delegation consisting of experts on environment and officials from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) country members and the ASEAN secretary visited Biodiversity Committee and Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Participants invited by China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Center (CAEC) were from the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), Singapore National Biodiversity Center of National Parks Board, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Kingdom of Thailand, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Malaysia, Cambodia Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Lao People's Democratic Republic, Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry Myanmar; they will attend the China-ASEAN Biodiversity Conservation and Information Cooperation Forum.

Prof. Keping Ma, the Deputy Director and Secretary General of Biodiversity Committee, CAS, welcomed the delegation and introduced the biodiversity status and research progress, the lately launched Catalogue of Life China, China Biodiversity Red List. He also shared the background, development and work plans of National Specimen Information Infrastructure and Asia Biodiversity Conservation and Database Network (ABCDNet); discussed the access of online data and the updated of Red List with participants.

The delegation visited the Herbarium (PE), Institute of Botany. Prof. Xianchun Zhang, the curator of PE, introduced that the herbarium collections numbered 2.63 million specimens, representing fossils, seed collections, liverworts, hornworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The collection is the largest research resource for plant taxonomy and biodiversity research in Asia. To strengthen contact and cooperation among member countries, he would like to exchange collections, visit scholars and share data with ASEAN countries.

“Biodiversity is an important issue in China-ASEAN’s cooperation”, Mr. Bin Peng, Director of Division for China-ASEAN Cooperation, CAEC, said, “The meeting provides a platform for Asia especially ASEAN members to exchange views on biodiversity conservation, and generates policy recommendations for ASEAN countries to promote green development. After the meeting, each participate will share the meeting with their own country, organize relevant strategies and policy research, thus formulating environmental cooperation to achieve a win-win situation. For implementation of cooperation as soon as possible, the Ministry of Environment will actively promote the cooperation in biodiversity data sharing and natural conservation between China and ASEAN.”