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Dialogue on the Future of Canada-China Environmental Diplomacy

The Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD) is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Canada China Forum and the Climate Action Network to co-host an event on the sidelines of the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) to be held in Montreal.

Canada will be hosting the COP15 in December 2022, under China’s Presidency. Over the past several years, the global geopolitical context and bilateral relations between Canada and China have become tense. Yet COP15 opens the opportunity for the two countries to collaborate on a global public good in making a watershed international agreement to halt the destruction of nature and accelerate restoration, conservation and protection of nature and biodiversity a reality.

In that spirit, IPD, the Canada China Forum and the Climate Action Network will be co-hosting the Dialogue on the Future of Canada-China Environmental Diplomacy, which will convene a select group of policy-makers, researchers, and civil society experts from both countries to collectively reflect on the following question:

Building on their experience in jointly hosting the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15, how can China and Canada further collaborate on global environmental threats like the climate and biodiversity crises?

This event will be hosted under Chatham House Rule and a report will be published by early January to highlight key takeaways from discussions at this event.  

Cooperation with China is needed to address global concerns on climate change and biodiversity. Ottawa has stated in its newly released Indo Pacific Strategy that it will cooperate with China on areas of necessity such as the environment. This roundtable dialogue seeks to put forward a roadmap on how Canada and other countries can engage China on environmental diplomacy. 

IPD Advisor Wenran Jiang will also serve as an advisor to the dialogue partnership alongside Patricia Fuller, Canada’s former Ambassador for Climate Change and a Senior Fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

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– Peggy Mason: Canada’s former Ambassador to the UN for Disarmament

– Mark Fitzpatrick: Associate Fellow & Former Executive Director, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

– Ali Vaez: Iran Project Director, International Crisis Group

– Negar Mortazavi: Journalist and Political Analyst, Host of Iran Podcast

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Luciano Zaccara: Assistant Professor, Qatar University

Dania Thafer: Executive Director, Gulf International Forum

Kayhan Barzegar: Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Science and Research Branch of Azad University

Barbara Slavin: Director of Iran Initiative, Atlantic Council

Sanam Shantyaei: Senior Journalist at France24 & host of Middle East Matters

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– Elizabeth Hagedorn: Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor

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Erica Di Ruggiero: Director of Centre for Global Health, University of Toronto

Reyhana Patel: Head of Communications & Government Relations, Islamic Relief Canada

Amir Barmaki: Former Head of UN OCHA in Iran

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