KUNMING -- The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, kicked off on Monday afternoon in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Themed "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth," COP15 is the first global conference convened by the United Nations highlighting ecological civilization, a philosophy proposed by China.

The meeting is set to be held in two parts. The first part, scheduled for Oct 11 to 15, is held both offline and online.

Representatives are expected to focus on the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to guide conservation actions worldwide through 2030.

Over 1,800 participants will gather at a forum on ecological civilization as a sideline event of the meeting from Oct 14 to 15, which will cover a range of topics including coping with climate change and nature-based ecological protection and restoration.

The second part of the meeting, to be held offline in the first half of 2022, is expected to see the finalization and adoption of an ambitious and practical post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

China was among the first countries to become a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which entered into force in 1993. The Convention currently has 196 parties, and the Conference of the Parties is the highest mechanism for discussing and making decisions on the Convention.