Pyongyang, May 22 (KCNA) -- May 22 is the International Day of Biological Diversity.

Despite increasing interest in biodiversity and ecosystem protection, the number of species worldwide is still decreasing due to human activities and various factors, and many animals and plants are at a crisis of extinction.

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international organizations call upon relevant units in all countries and regions to implement the global goals set forth in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This year's theme is "Acting locally for global impact".

The DPRK is actively protecting the biodiversity by increasing the areas of various forms of reserves by stages throughout the country.

The Ministry of Land and Environment Protection, the Biodiversity Institute under the State Academy of Sciences and other relevant units have conducted field survey of major reserves including biosphere reserves and wildlife sanctuaries in recent years. On this basis, they set up a nationwide ecological route to regularly update the lists of species and endangered species in the country.

On the basis of the nationwide assessment of biodiversity, they settled possible reserve sites and have made provinces, cities and counties take measures to eliminate the factors that adversely affect the ecological environment.

Meanwhile, they are protecting and increasing the biodiversity of the country in various forms and methods including the supervision and control for protecting animal and plant resources, the information work for raising public interest, sci-tech presentation, seminar and short course. -0-