Experts and environmental protection officials from China and several South Asian countries on Monday started a five-day seminar that aims to map out an action plan to protect biological diversity.

China: one of the megadiverse countries. [File photo]?

The event will include lectures, reports and exhibitions during which scholars and officials from China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will exchange experiences on protecting regional and global biological diversity.

The seminar, the first activity in the environmental field between China's Ministry of Environmental Protection and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), is being held in the hope of boosting the abilities of these countries to implement the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and strengthen cooperation in environmental protection.

China, one of the world's leading countries for biological diversity resources, issued an action plan on biological diversity preservation (2011-2030) in 2010 to raise public awareness and promote public participation, and set up a national committee consisting of 25 State departments to work on the issue.