The World Wide Fund for Nature holds a forum themed "Nature Positive 2030: From Ambition to Action" in Beijing, China, on October 16, 2025. Photo: Zhao Jingru/GT

An international forum themed "Nature Positive 2030: From Ambition to Action" was held in Beijing as part of the 2025 International Panda Day events. Participants from multiple countries discussed ways to turn global biodiversity goals into concrete actions and drive the realization of the vision of Nature Positive by 2030.

Hosted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Beijing Office, the event gathered around 100 representatives from government, international organizations, research institutions, enterprises, and various sectors of society, who shared experiences and built consensus.

Nature Positive, the theme of this forum, is a global societal goal defined as "halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 on a 2020 baseline, and achieve full recovery by 2050," in line with the mission of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a UN deal adopted at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Lu Lunyan, chief representative of WWF's Beijing Office, delivered the opening address, stating that although the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has set ambitious goals to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, progress remains slow. She noted that Nature Positive is not only WWF's vision but also a crucial concern for societal development.

"With only a five-year window of opportunity remaining until 2030, the countdown urges us to act with urgency," said Lu, "Only by translating global consensus into tangible and actionable environmental actions can we protect our planet and achieve a nature-positive future."

Kirsten Schuijt, WWF's Global Director General, shared insights from years of the organization's conservation work in China. She commended China's increasingly crucial role in shaping and supporting global biodiversity governance, expressing WWF's readiness to collaborate with multiple stakeholders and serve as a key partner in advancing China's global conservation leadership.

During the panel discussion, participants engaged in in-depth dialogues on concrete pathways to achieving Nature Positive, sharing experiences across various fields such as green value chains, sustainable tourism, technological applications in nature and biodiversity conservation, among others.

Schuijt told the Global Times that China's growing success in biodiversity conservation gives confidence into global endeavors toward Nature Positive. She noted that because of the efforts of the Chinese government together with organizations like WWF, the giant panda has been officially downgraded from "Endangered" to "Vulnerable" on the global list of species at risk of extinction, becoming the symbol for "hope and resilience." 

 "Beyond its iconic giant panda protecting, China's broader efforts in ecological conservation—such as its target to reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 percent by 2035 from peak levels—all embody a crucial vision: development need not come at the expense of biodiversity or the climate. These practices serve as a 'strong inspiration,' offering a viable pathway for other nations to emulate," Schuijt said.

Headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, WWF is an independent conservation organization, with over 30 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries and regions. WWF began collaborating with China on giant panda protection in the 1980s, according to Xinhua News Agency. 

Since 2017, WWF designated October 27th as International Panda Day to celebrate the global conservation of the giant panda and other wildlife species, according to its official WeChat account.