YEREVAN, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- "Nature doesn't have an advocate or a lawyer to defend its interests. And so this is very important that the law guarantees protection for the weak," Norbert Barlocher, a councilor of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told Xinhua on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17).
The conference is conducting the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). Participants from several countries have praised China's recently enacted Ecological and Environmental Code, saying its experience in environmental rule of law offers important lessons for countries working to implement the framework.
China's code is designed "to elaborate a modern Code that gives clear guidance in the field of the environment," Barlocher said, adding that countries could "learn together from each other" through China's integrated approach to environmental governance.
Basile van Havre, co-chair of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, noted that many countries have responded to challenges involving climate change, nature and pollution by introducing successive layers of legislation, creating increasingly complex regulatory systems. "What happened in many countries is they have been piling up legislation one on top of the other," he said.
Doreen Robinson, deputy director of the Ecosystems Division at the United Nations Environment Programme, described China's Ecological and Environmental Code as forward-looking and a model from which other countries could learn.
"I think that China is very progressive in its ecological code, and I think it's got an innovative way of approaching it," Robinson said. She added that the experience "can help them adapt and transform to their own national circumstances."
Diego Ochoa, programme management adviser with the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans Accelerator Programme, said political will was among the most important factors in advancing biodiversity conservation, restoration and sustainable use. This required "the translation of these ideas into legislation, laws and regulatory frameworks," he said.
Strengthening regulatory frameworks is itself an important step toward implementing the KMGBF, Ochoa said, adding that China's experience "is a great step for other countries to understand how China does this kind of work."
During COP17, the English version of the think tank report "China's Innovations and Global Contributions Through the Ecological and Environmental Code" was released at the China Pavilion on Wednesday as one of the research outcomes highlighting achievements in building a Beautiful China.
The Chinese version was released on Aug. 15, 2026, by the National High-Level Think Tank of Xinhua News Agency, the day the Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China took effect.
The report was jointly compiled by a research team from the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, Xinhua Institute and the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. It examines the code's historical context and significance, explains its legislative innovations and distinctive Chinese characteristics, and explores its global value and contributions.
Nancy Kananu Marangu, a technical consultant at Kenya's Chemichemi Foundation, said the English version would help the international community better understand China's experience in environmental rule of law and demonstrate the code's value globally, particularly for developing countries.
Karen Ghazaryan, dean of the Faculty of Biology at Yerevan State University, said after reading the report that the code brings pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and green and low-carbon development under a unified framework. He described it as "the first of its kind in the world," adding, "I think this complex approach is very important not only for China but also for the whole world."
Barlocher said the fact that the code had been developed by a developing country demonstrated that countries at different stages of development could use the rule of law to establish an environmental governance framework that balances environmental protection with development. This, he said, was an important part of the code's global significance.
Robinson said the next step was to help countries identify the key elements of the code that could be adapted to their own circumstances and support them in applying those elements nationally.
Ghazaryan said he maintains ties with many Chinese scientists and hopes to apply lessons from the code to environmental governance in Armenia, including efforts to address soil degradation and water pollution.
Sergey Rybakov, director general of the Nature and People Foundation in Russia, highlighted the long-term perspective offered by China's experience.
"China is showing us where we will be in 10, 20 or 25 years. This is extremely important because when you know where you are going, it becomes much easier to get there. You understand what your goal is and what you need to achieve," he said. ■
