The China-Africa Dialogue on Environment and Climate Change is held in Beijing on August 27, 2024. Photo: Leng Shumei/GT

 




China and its African partners on Tuesday jointly launched an initiative in Beijing to strengthen their cooperation for green and sustainable development.  

The initiative was launched during the China-Africa Dialogue on Environment and Climate Change. The dialogue came one week before the 2024 summit for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that will be held in Beijing from September 4 to 6.  

Climate change, loss of biodiversity, and environmental pollution are urgent issues facing the international community, affecting the future of humanity. China, as the world's largest developing country, and Africa, as the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries, face dual challenges in terms of environment protection and socioeconomic development, the initiative reads. 

The initiative called for promotion of dialogue and exchanges on environmental and climate policies between China and Africa, share best practices in areas such as climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and environmental pollution management, and facilitate cooperation and exchanges in standards and technologies. 

The world is currently experiencing unprecedented changes, with deficits in peace, development, security, and governance becoming increasingly apparent. At the same time, the interdependence among countries is deepening like never before. Cooperation on ecological environment and climate change aligns with the shared development interests of China and Africa and represents a crucial step toward building an even closer China-Africa community with a shared future, Cui Dandan, deputy director-general of the Department of International Cooperation, Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said.

There is already a lot of history around collaboration between China and Africa which include and go beyond energy partnerships. These collaborations have led to obvious achievement in infrastructure. But more importantly, there has been a lot of capacity transfer and skills transfer by collaborating and working together, Meron Tesfamichael, director of Environmental Education Division, Environment and Sustainable Development Agency of Mali, told the Global Times on the sidelines of 

the dialogue.