Armenian Environment Minister, GEF CEO discuss biodiversity financing and monitoring initiatives

COP17 President and Armenian Minister of Environment Hambardzum Matevosyan held a meeting with Diego Mesa Puyo, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), on the sidelines of COP17 in Yerevan.

“We discussed opportunities to expand cooperation between Armenia and the GEF, mobilize financial resources for biodiversity conservation, and implement projects aligned with national priorities,” Matevosyan said on social media.

He said he emphasized that achieving the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires predictable, adequate and accessible financing to translate global commitments into tangible results.

“We also discussed the initiative to establish a technology centre for biodiversity monitoring in Yerevan, highlighting the importance of innovative technologies, data collection and capacity-building for countries. I thanked the GEF for its longstanding partnership with Armenia and its support for the initiatives of the COP17 Presidency, reaffirming our readiness to continue our cooperation beyond the Conference,” Matevosyan said.

The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is being held in conjunction with the 12th meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP-MOP-12) and the sixth meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (NP-MOP-6).

COP17 marks the first global review of collective progress toward implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). The events are taking place in Yerevan from October 19 to 30.