Armenia signed the Convention on Biological
Diversity on June 13, 1992 and ratified it on May 14,
1993 www.biodiv.org
In 1997 Armenia received GEF assistance to implement
the project "First National Report, Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan to CBD". In 1999, the
combined work of eight groups of specialists resulted
in the First National Report on the Biodiversity of
Armenia and the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
(BSAP), which were prepared in line with CBD guidelines
and the priority development goals of Armenia.
The Government has endorsed the BSAP, which will be
the basis for national biodiversity policy and will
soon be adopted officially. It aims at ensuring the
conservation, sustainable use and regeneration of Armenia's
landscape and biological diversity. It includes a budget
for its implementation, identifying what can be funded
in Armenia and what needs international funding, indicating
possible sources of finance.
Since March 2001 a project has been launched as a second
phase of the Biodiversity Enabling Activity. It received
additional support from the GEF and includes the assessment
of capacity-building needs, the establishment of a Clearing
House Mechanism in Armenia and the preparation of the
Second National Report. In many state and private higher
educational institutions, students receive thorough
teaching on biodiversity at the global level, for example
at the Faculty of Biology of Yerevan State University,
a special course on "Conservation of Biodiversity"
has been taught since 2000. The introduction of this
new subject is directly connected with the implementation
of one of the actions of the Armenian "Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan" (see Article 12 questions
173-174).
Armenia has undertaken to fulfil a number of obligations
on the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources
and on the resolution of problems related to access
to genetic resources and equitable sharing of benefits
arising from their use. With the coming into force of
the CBD the priority of issues related to access to
genetic resources has increased and the need for the
development of a strategy on the free exchange of gene
fund samples and open access to collections of plant
geneplasm has emerged (see Article 15).
The Second National Report will help with gathering
more support for biodiversity conservation in Armenia
in that it draws the attention of the Convention Secretariat
to the problems and needs of Armenia. The report will
be followed up with an assessment of capacity building
needs as part of an ongoing GEF Enabling Activity project,
which will further highlight priority needs in Armenia.
The report has helped clarify priorities. It has also
helped to identify trends and changes occurring since
the First National Report.
Under the Second Phase Enabling Activities project,
"Assessment of Priority Capacity Building Needs
for Biodiversity and Establishment of a Clearing House
Mechanism in Armenia", the first step was to create
a National Steering Committee on Biodiversity. The Steering
Committee was created in early April by decree of the
Minister for Nature Protection on April, 11, 2001.
In the Framework of the Pan-European Strategy for Biological
and Landscape Diversity there is a Program Element "Establishment
of potential for conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and
Newly Independent States (NIS)", which contains
a separate action "Development of regional co-operation
(Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan) aimed at better
management and sustainable use of biodiversity in transboundary
territories" (included in Strategy during the conference
"Biodiversity in Europe" in March, 2000).
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