National Focal Point: 

Levon AghasyanMinistry of Environment of Armenia

Alla Aleksanyan, Institute of Botany aft. A.L. Takhtajyan NAS RA

 

levon.aghasyan@mnp.am

alla.alexanyan@gmail.com

 

 

+374-94-134949

+37455851311

 

 

www.mnp.am   

www.mnp.am/en/

 

HOW IS ARMENIA ORGANISED TO GET ENGAGED IN IPBES?

Armenia has been a member of IPBES since 2018. Since then, we are trying to be more involved in IPBES processes. As a member country we have a focal point, Levon Aghasyan, who is responsible for the participation in IPBES activities.  As an observer since 2016, Armenian representatives participated in different events, assessments, and capacity building activities organized by IPBES.

Currently Armenia is involved in the thematic assessment of invasive alien species and their control.  Our expert Alla Aleksanyan has been nominated by the focal point and is now member of the Committee on Conflicts of Interest of IPBES.

The Armenian National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was developed for 2016-2020, and  approval was given by the Armenian Government in 2015. We are now in the process of developing our new NBSAP which will already include many issues mentioned in the IPBES Global Assessment Report.

 

NOMINATION PROCESS 

The process of selection depends on the needs of IPBES projects and the availability of the experts in a specific area. If there are many suitable candidates, then the selection is based on knowledge and experience of national experts, international ranking, and willingness to be involved in specific projects. The national focal point is responsible for the selection and nomination of experts.

 

CONTRIBUTION TO THE IPBES WORK PROGRAMME 

Armenian experts participate in different events and IPBES assessment processes. Currently, they are involved in the review of the first order draft, as external reviewer of the Global assessment, and of the thematic assessment of invasive alien species and their control.

 

SPECIFIC PROJECTS

Currently, there are some activities in Armenia to support IPBES work and to enlarge cooperation opportunities. As a new member of IPBES it would be very useful to have such a project to support capacity building in the framework of IPBES in Armenia.

 

TYPE OF ENGAGEMENT WITH STAKEHOLDERS

The focal point and recruited experts have a quite big database of stakeholders in the country, working with different scientific institutions within the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and other relevant networks which are usually used for connecting stakeholders. We have strong collaborations with scientific institutions. As for international stakeholders in the framework of IPBES, we usually connect with the help of IPBES secretariat.