Opening remarks by RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at the event titled "From Mountains to Oceans: Conserving Biodiversity Beyond Environmental Boundaries for a Sustainable Future."
"Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Participants,
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this high-level event, organized in this beautiful city of Nice, by Armenia as host and chair of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, COP17, and by France as host and co-chair of the 3rd United Nations Conference on Ocean Affairs.
This is one of the many occasions when Armenia and France join forces to ensure that the global environmental agenda remains at the forefront of our international efforts. We jointly advance the fight against challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and other issues that have brought this generation to the brink of a planetary crisis.
Armenia, enjoying the trust of the international community and with the support of its partners, is making every effort to hold the next successful and results-oriented COP17. In a direction that will help reverse the trends of biodiversity loss and provide a more sustainable, green, and nature-integrated development path.
We need a revised understanding that environmental challenges are not isolated phenomena; they affect us all, whether we are in the mountains or in the depths of the oceans. We need to rethink our attitude towards nature and renew our commitment to environmental action.
In this context, COP17 in Armenia will be an important milestone. It will bring together Parties to the Convention, governments, public and private stakeholders, indigenous peoples, and local communities for a global review to assess our collective and individual achievements in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. I use the word "achievements" here. Still, we all understand that in addition to achievements, this review will help us assess and identify gaps, shortcomings, and needs and do our best to develop the most effective and comprehensive solutions that will help us adhere to our biodiversity commitments while ensuring the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Ocean Conference The discussions and consultations are crucial to the objectives of COP17, as ocean biodiversity is a key pillar for global biodiversity conservation. We are pleased that initiatives such as the negotiations on a legally binding instrument to combat plastic pollution or adopting the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) are boosting global efforts in this direction. I want to thank France for its strong support for both processes.
We are actively engaged in both processes and signed the BBNJ yesterday to demonstrate that, although Armenia is a landlocked developing country with predominantly mountainous terrain, we share a common concern for conserving marine biodiversity as a common heritage and a critical environmental area. The protection and conservation of marine ecosystems are closely linked to what we do on land and in the mountains, as they have multiple impacts on aquatic ecosystems.
This high-level discussion is about uncovering the deep interconnections between marine and terrestrial ecosystems and their interconnected vulnerabilities and discussing ways to ensure more comprehensive and integrated approaches to global environmental issues.
Therefore, I look forward to hearing and benefiting from high-level experts' valuable insights and suggestions. I hope this will contribute to the more effective application of the discussion's results in support of the COP17 Biodiversity Conference to be held in Armenia next year.
Thank you for your attention, and I hope we have fruitful discussions."
