Victoria falls: A total of nine Chinese cities were accredited as international wetland cities on Thursday during the opening of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15) held in Zimbabwe's resort city of Victoria Falls. This accreditation brings the total number of such cities in China to 22, the highest in the world.According to Namibia Press Agency, the nine newly accredited cities include Chongming in Shanghai, Dali in Yunnan Province, Fuzhou in Fujian Province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province, Lhasa in the Xizang Autonomous Region, Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, and Yueyang in Hunan Province. Johane Chenjekwa, mayor of Kasane in Botswana, praised China for its efforts in promoting wetland conservation and highlighted the potential benefits for Africa through cooperation with China in wetland management.Chenjekwa expressed optimism about learning from China's wetland management strat egies and emphasized the value of shared experiences in addressing the global challenge of wetland degradation. He noted that joint efforts with China could help mitigate the impacts of this environmental issue.Jay Aldous, deputy secretary-general of the Convention on Wetlands, addressed the conference, stressing the importance of balancing urban development with wetland preservation. He highlighted concerns over unplanned urban expansion, which contributes to wetland degradation, biodiversity loss, ecological imbalance, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and pollution.Aldous explained the Wetland City Accreditation scheme, launched by the Convention on Wetlands, as a measure to encourage the protection of urban wetlands and their integration into sustainable urban planning. He pointed out that adopting the convention's principles of wise use can help cities benefit ecologically, socially, and economically from wetlands.Under the theme "Protecting Wetlands for our Common Future", COP15 aims to strength en international commitments to wetland protection and concludes on July 31.