The 29th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Huang Tianming, a 62-year-old farmer from Zhan'ao village in Keqiao district, Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province, delivered a speech at a side event themed "Advancing the Implementation of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda", on Nov 18.

Huang, travelling 6,000 km, shared a story between his family and ancient Chinese torreya trees, the oldest of which is 1,570 years old.

"Our story with the trees started from ancestors, who migrated to this place 800 years ago. Now, six generations from the same family are still guarding the trees," said Huang. The farmer spends more than 200 days a year in the Chinese torreya tree forest, weeding, fertilizing, pruning.

For hundreds of years, local farmers follow ancestors' practices to live with the trees harmoniously. In recent years, database was established to record the ancient trees' data including health conditions.

Luigi Latini, owner and CEO at MOPI srl, said that this story from rural China is very worth learning. "Ecological protection and economic development on both hands can inject driving force to sustainable development. I hope many people will learn from it," he said.

Zhan'ao village and adjacent villages are in possession of a Chinese torreya tree forest with over 5,000 trees that are above 500 years old. In 2013, the forest was recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage, the first of its kind in the world.

Today, Chinese torreya nuts industry has become a pillar industry in Zhan'ao village. Annual income related to Chinese torreya reached over 30,000 yuan ($4,143) per person. 

Reporter Zhao Yaxin, Zhang Miao, Xiao Yanyan, Yan Yiqi

Correspondent Yang Liming