On October 19, the first day of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17), environmental activists held a protest against the operation of the Amulsar gold mine in the area adjacent to the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, near the COP17 Green Zone. The protest aimed to highlight the contradiction between Amulsar mine development project and the objectives of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Anna Shahnazaryan, one of the protest participants, noted that COP17 is an important opportunity to demonstrate the contradiction between Amulsar mine development project and the biodiversity conservation principles underpinning the conference.
“Amulsar project undermines and obstructs the achievement of all 23 targets of the global biodiversity framework established by COP17,” Anna Shahnazaryan said.
In her assessment, opening a mine at Amulsar alone would prevent Armenia from fulfilling its commitments to biodiversity conservation. The issue concerns not only the protection of individual species but also the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework aimed at preventing species extinction, conserving natural habitats, and restoring degraded ecosystems. According to the environmentalist, implementing Amulsar project contradicts these objectives, while Armenia, as the host country of COP17, should set an example in biodiversity conservation.
“We have so many violations that have been ignored by the government. Even the target concerning access to information has been violated,” Shahnazaryan stressed, also referring to the international expert study on Amulsar project. According to her, the ELARD study, published in 2019, examined the mine’s potential impacts on water resources, geology, biodiversity, and air quality and included important observations regarding the project’s environmental assessment. It had been available on official Armenian websites for years but has now been removed from those sources. She stressed that the issues raised cannot simply be ignored, particularly when they concern the potential environmental consequences of mining and the commitments undertaken by the state.
Anna Shahnazaryan also addressed the recent Mining Forum, describing it as a show of force by the authorities and a demonstration of their support for the mining sector.
“This is similar to the climate COPs, where the whole world gathers to discuss the climate crisis, but oil industry representatives attend and strike deals. The same thing is happening here, at our COP. We must not allow the discourse on biodiversity conservation to be cynically turned into mining rhetoric,” the environmentalist concluded.
Activists have already drafted a statement condemning the launch of gold mining operations at Amulsar. The statement is being circulated among conference participants and civil society organizations, urging them to join their appeal.
October 20, 2026 at 18:59