Armenia hopes for participation of high-ranking delegations of  International Ecological Conference member-states in COP17 in Yerevan 

ArmInfo. The Armenian government has approved the Program for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Sphere of Water Resources for 2022-2026. A new draft law of the Republic of Armenia On Climate has been developed. The purpose of the draft law is to create a legal and institutional basis for the development and implementation of climate policy in the country. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this while speaking at the International Environmental Conference in Gorno- Altaisk. 

The Prime Minister recalled that Armenia is a mountainous country,  80% of whose territory is occupied by highland regions. The country  is known for its diversity of climatic zones: from arid subtropical  to alpine.  Armenia is home to many endemic species of flora and  fauna. Four national parks and three reserves occupy more than 10% of  the country's territory. Among them is the Khosrov Reserve, created  on the basis of an artificial forest founded in the 4th century as a  royal hunting ground. The pearl of Armenia, Lake Sevan, is the  largest freshwater reservoir in the region. The country's mountain  ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to climate change, he emphasized.  Droughts, floods and flash floods are becoming more frequent.  Although Armenia's carbon dioxide emissions are extremely  insignificant on a global scale, the country is among the countries  most affected by global warming. The consequences of climate change  are expressed in accelerated melting of glaciers, reduced  precipitation, landslides, soil erosion and desertification. The lack  of water resources leads to a decrease in the efficiency of pastures  and arable lands, as well as a reduction in forest resources. In this  context, we emphasize the importance of increasing water use  efficiency, introducing innovative technologies and implementing drip  irrigation programs.

In response to national needs and international commitments, in May  2021, the Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the National  Action Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change and the List of  Activities for 2021-2026, thereby defining the strategic framework  for adaptation and planning measures for its implementation in the  country on a permanent and continuous basis in the future. Armenia,  he noted, welcomes the cooperation of the EAEU member states within  the framework of the climate agenda, and Eurasian low-carbon  development programs are also important.

As Pashinyan noted, Armenia, attaching great importance to the  preservation of biodiversity, is implementing programs to restore  wild animal populations. Since 2002, the program to restore the  Caucasian leopard population, implemented jointly with the World  Wildlife Fund, has yielded significant results. The permanent  residence and reproduction of cubs of this species has already been  recorded in Armenia, which indicates that the stability of the  habitat and food supply of the Caucasian leopard has been achieved.  The Fund is also implementing a program to restore the population of  the Caucasian red deer in the Dilijan Nature Reserve.

"Armenia also supports the UN agenda for mountain countries. We  actively participate in the work of the Group of Friends of Mountain  Countries within the UN, initiated by Kyrgyzstan. We also joined the  initiative of the Kyrgyz side within the  Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention. We  hope that the group will become an active participant in the  negotiation processes within the climate conference, for which we are  ready to actively contribute to the formation of the necessary agenda  within the group," he said.

he Armenian Prime Minister recalled that the 17th meeting of the  Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity  (COP17) will be held in Armenia in 2026.

"We look forward to the participation of high-level delegations from  your countries, as well as representatives of academic and expert  circles in the work of COP17.

As the chair and host country, Armenia will make every effort to  ensure a productive dialogue, to bring the positions of the parties  closer together and to make balanced and meaningful decisions that  take into account the interests and priorities of all parties.

We are confident that together we will be able to make a significant  contribution to global efforts to preserve biodiversity and rational  use of natural resources, in the spirit of shared responsibility for  our planet," Nikol Pashinyan summed up.

The International Environmental Conference is being held on July 25  in the Altai Republic in the resort town of Manzherok. Eight  countries are participating in it: the Russian Federation, the  Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic,  the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic  of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. All states are long-standing partners  and interact on environmental issues both bilaterally and within the  framework of international associations.