The Sevan community in Gegharkunik Province will be represented in the Green Zone of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) in Yerevan.

The Sevan Municipality said in a press release that EcoLur Informational NGO, in cooperation with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and with the support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, is organizing a session titled “Communities as Biodiversity Conservationists and Sustainable Users” in the Green Zone of the 17th meeting of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17).

Sevan is one of seven communities participating in the session. On October 21, it will present a report titled “Sevan Community’s Contribution to the Protection of Lake Sevan” in the Green Zone.

“The participating communities, represented by local self-government bodies, civil society and business representatives, will present their experience in biodiversity conservation in their communities and settlements, the challenges they face, and proposals for overcoming them. In particular, they will address climate change, water resource management, forest conservation and sustainable use, ecotourism development, the impact of economic activity on biodiversity, waste management, and opportunities to create sources of income based on local cultural heritage. At the end of the session, the communities will issue a community declaration titled ‘For the Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity,’ addressed to the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Parties to the Convention, and international and national organizations for consideration during COP17. Through the declaration, the communities will present the challenges of biodiversity conservation and put forward proposals, declaring themselves partners in biodiversity conservation,” the Sevan Municipality said.