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Around 50 decisions were adopted at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) in Yerevan, with the outcomes exceeding initial expectations both in the range of agenda items addressed and their importance to numerous countries.
Armenian Environment Minister and COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan said this at a press conference in Yerevan reviewing the conference’s outcomes. He stressed that agreement had been reached on several issues that had been discussed for years and required substantial resources.
“As I noted during the plenary session, I believe we achieved far more than we could have expected, both in the diversity of agenda items and their importance to numerous countries and parties to the Convention. This also includes issues whose approval and adoption had long been awaited, on which numerous attempts had been made and enormous resources spent. Imagine: it was entirely possible that these issues would still not have been approved. That was a very real possibility,” he said.
The conference president said that, looking back, it was difficult to explain precisely how and why such results had been possible. Nevertheless, he expressed particular gratitude to the parties to the Convention for their flexibility and recognition of the urgency of the situation.
“I think they recognised the urgency of the situation. It was not simply a matter of fatigue, although everyone was, of course, extremely tired. Participants had barely slept for two weeks. In particular, most delegation members had not slept at all over the final few days.
“But they recognised another urgency: if these issues were not approved now, during COP17, they would have to wait. So I am truly grateful for their flexibility, their recognition of the urgency and their willingness to do all this for all of us and for nature,” the conference president said.
He also thanked the Convention’s Executive Secretary for providing guidance on numerous issues and, particularly, for her important role in ensuring compliance with procedures.
“Procedural matters are extremely sensitive. Everything is set out in documents. I think the Executive Secretary was very firm about following procedures. We followed those procedures, and everything was properly organised and conducted,” he stressed.
Addressing the need to continue the plenary session, Matevosyan said this was his responsibility and that he had been obliged to use every means available to keep the process moving.
He said much of the work involved processes that were not usually visible to the public.
“Whenever I was discussing an agenda item, I would turn to our team and comment on something or discuss it with them. Where possible, consultations were also held in parallel. All this explains why I continued the session. All the strategies and tactics we used proved useful. Perhaps continuing the work until late was one of them,” Matevosyan said.
The conference president highlighted the number of decisions adopted, saying that, according to the Executive Secretary, it had reached around 50.
“We managed to adopt numerous decisions. The Executive Secretary informed me that we had adopted decisions on around 50 agenda items. This is an excellent result,” he stressed.
Turning to biodiversity conservation and the significance of the decisions adopted, Matevosyan stressed that every issue discussed was connected to biodiversity in one way or another.
“Even when we discuss budgetary matters, which are probably among the topics of least interest to the public, they still serve the goal of biodiversity conservation. They are necessary to ensure the effective functioning of the relevant institutions, so that all processes are properly organised and ready for implementation, and decision-makers can move forward with biodiversity conservation,” he said.
Concluding, Matevosyan reiterated that every decision adopted at COP17 concerned biodiversity and was intended to support further work in the field.