COP17 puts Armenia’s environmental record in the spotlight

Last weekend, the 17th gathering of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention connected Biological Diversity (COP17) opened successful Yerevan with a lavish ceremony. It is the archetypal clip the acme has been hosted by a erstwhile Soviet republic, an juncture the Armenian authorities has celebrated arsenic an accidental to found the state arsenic a person successful biology protection. But Armenia’s ain ecological grounds raises superior questions astir its suitability for this role.

When Yerevan was awarded the close to big COP17 successful 2024, the Armenian authorities celebrated the determination arsenic designation of the country’s biology ambitions. Yet Armenia has struggled for decades to make effectual conservation policies, and its grounds remains mediocre successful respective important areas. In Yale University’s 2026 Environmental Performance Index, Armenia ranks 75th retired of 177 countries, compared with archetypal spot for Estonia, different erstwhile Soviet republic.

Its show is peculiarly mediocre connected discarded management, wherever it ranks 164th, and wastewater treatment, wherever it ranks 165th. These figures constituent to superior shortcomings successful basal biology protection.

The opposition raises an evident question: wherefore was a state facing specified superior biology challenges chosen to big 1 of the world’s astir important biodiversity conferences? The enactment mightiness person offered an accidental to promote change, but determination is small denotation that the Armenian authorities person utilized the juncture to code the country’s longstanding problems.

A large obstacle is the operation of Armenia’s economy, successful which mining plays an important role, alongside ageing concern facilities and inadequate biology regulation. The country’s largest mining operations, including the Zangezur, Agarak and Teghut copper-molybdenum mines, extract ore utilizing open-pit methods that make ample quantities of discarded and airs superior contamination risks. The World Bank has identified mining arsenic a important root of biology contamination successful Armenia. Open-pit golden mining has besides been licensed astatine Meghrasar, connected onshore that primitively overlapped with Arevik National Park, earlier the authorities reduced the park’s boundaries successful 2015. The Artsvanik tailings reservoir, which holds millions of tonnes of mining waste, has besides been linked to heavy-metal contamination successful adjacent waterways.

Armenia’s biology problems widen beyond mining. Forests screen lone 11.1 percent of the country, portion successful Yerevan, levels of harmful good particle aerial contamination are astir 5 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.

Armenia’s dependence connected Russian-linked businesses successful immoderate of its astir important concern sectors further complicates efforts to fortify biology regulation. These companies are not lone large investors and employers, but besides important contributors to the authorities budget, giving the authorities a almighty economical inducement to support their operations. Russian-linked investors clasp a controlling involvement successful the Zangezur copper-molybdenum complex, which was Armenia’s largest payer successful the archetypal fractional of 2026.

That struggle betwixt economical interests and biology extortion was connected show conscionable days earlier COP17, erstwhile Armenia inaugurated the arguable Amulsar golden mine. Environmental organisations, including the Global Forest Coalition and assorted Armenian civilian nine groups, person condemned the move, arguing that it disregards longstanding biology concerns and recommendations nether the Bern Convention.

Human rights organisations person documented intimidation and lawsuits targeting activists campaigning against Amulsar. Armenia’s Economy Minister has defended the task connected economical grounds, saying it could lend betwixt 1.5 and 2 percent of the country’s GDP and make astir $130m annually successful taxes and different payments to the authorities budget. The projected revenues exposure the contradiction betwixt the government’s determination to grow mining and its ambition to contiguous Armenia arsenic an planetary person successful biodiversity protection.

These competing priorities are peculiarly important arsenic Armenia seeks person relations with the European Union and distances itself from Moscow. The EU–Armenia Strategic Agenda identifies the request for stronger implementation of biology interaction appraisal legislation, improvements to discarded management, and further enactment connected aerial quality, h2o extortion and concern emissions. Progress connected these commitments should beryllium cardinal to the EU’s appraisal of Armenia’s efforts towards person integration.

At COP17, governments are reviewing advancement nether the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to halt and reverse quality nonaccomplishment by 2030. The acme is expected to finalise a “Yerevan Pathway” to accelerate implementation of its targets. The prospects are already bleak. The State of Biodiversity Action report, launched earlier the summit, recovered that less than fractional of assessed nationalist targets are connected track.

Financing remains a large obstacle. Developed countries person provided astir $16bn annually successful planetary biodiversity finance, falling abbreviated of the $20bn people for 2025. Meanwhile, the Cali Fund, established with the extremity of collecting $1bn successful yearly contributions from companies profiting from familial information derived from nature, has received conscionable $6,000. These shortfalls exemplify the difficulties facing governments arsenic they question to crook their biodiversity commitments into action.

As big of COP17, Armenia should beryllium prepared to show that the commitments being discussed successful Yerevan besides use to its ain mining industry, biology regulations and attraction of conservation activists. Participating governments should usage the acme to property the Armenian authorities to fortify biology protections, enforce contamination controls, guarantee credible biology interaction assessments and code the concerns raised by civilian nine implicit projects specified arsenic Amulsar.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.