A key United Nations summit on biodiversity conservation scheduled to be held in China, commonly known as COP 15, has been postponed for a second time amid safety concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, its secretariat announced.

A female Yunnan snub-nosed monkey and her two infants are seen in the Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve in Yunnan province. Wang Changshan / Xinhua

The conference in Kunming, capital of southwestern China's Yunnan province, has been moved to Oct 11 to 24 "due to the ongoing pandemic situation", said Elizabeth Mrema, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (also known as the CBD), in a statement issued on March 18.

The biggest UN biodiversity meeting in a decade, the summit is tasked with elaborating on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and identifying global biodiversity protection goals up to 2030. The biennial gathering was originally scheduled to be held in October last year and was later put off to May this year.

"The Chinese government has always attached great importance to preparatory work for COP 15", which is the first global conference to be held under the theme of "ecological civilization", said a media release from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on March 19.

The Kunming gathering is themed "Ecological Civilization－Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth".

"As the host country, China will seriously honor its responsibilities," it said. "The country will join hands with the international community to enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation and endeavor to make COP 15 a milestone conference of complete success."