China's Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve signed two memoranda of understanding with its peers in Russia and the United States on Monday to strengthen ecological cooperation.

According to the memorandum of understanding signed with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the United States, the two sides will cooperate within three years to promote bilateral educational exchanges and boost biodiversity conservation in the face of climate change, ecotourism, industrial activities, and other stressors common to both areas.

The cooperation with Russia's Sikhote-Alin State Nature Biosphere Reserve will focus on the monitoring of climate change's impact on ecosystems, especially plant communities, and the adaptation of biodiversity to climate change as well as a survey of wildlife and wild plants, according to Elena Pimenova, deputy director of Science with the Sikhote-Alin State Nature Biosphere Reserve.

Representatives from the institutions exchanged their memos at the opening ceremony of the first Changbai Mountain International Ecological Forum at Changbai reserve in northeast China's Jilin Province.

While addressing the ceremony attended by more than 400 delegates from 15 countries and regions, mostly ecologists and nature reserve managers and officials, Jilin Provincial Governor Bayin Chaolu hoped participants could have open dialogue and explore new measures to boost ecological cooperation and pursue sustainable development.

"We value the chance offered by the forum to exchange and brainstorm with foreign experts and will make full use of the opportunity to deepen future cooperation, improve our work in biodiversity protection and ensure the rational use of national resources," he said.

With the theme "Strengthening natural conservation and inheriting ecological civilization," the first-of-its-kind forum was jointly initiated by the Jilin Provincial Government, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the State Forestry Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Chinese National Committee of Man and Biosphere Program.

Wang Weiguang, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the forum is held with the goal of increasing global public understanding of Changbai Mountain's ecological situation, boosting cooperation and developing the mountain into a model of China's ecological preservation.

"Changbai Mountain is not just an ecological barrier in northern China, it is also the highest mountain in continental northeast Asia and the best-protected and most biodiverse area at its latitude in the Northern Hemisphere," said Wang.