Heinrich Böll Foundation Yerevan at COP17

During the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), held in Yerevan from 19 to 30 October 2026, the Heinrich Böll Foundation Yerevan Office - South Caucasus Region brought together environmental organisations, civil society representatives, researchers, local initiatives, and German Green Members of Parliament to highlight the importance of biodiversity protection, environmental democracy and public participation.

Through workshops, research presentations, film screenings and exhibitions, we created spaces for exchange and reflection on Armenia's environmental challenges and the connections between biodiversity, communities, cultural heritage and democratic governance.

On October 20, EcoLur Information NGO, with the support of hbs Yerevan, hosted a public discussion as part of the joint project "Strengthening Civil Society Leadership and Biodiversity Governance in Armenia Ahead of COP17."

In cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Yerevan, Office Armenian Progressive Youth (APY) launched a new project in summer 2026 to empower young people in Armenia to actively contribute to climate awareness, climate justice, and youth-led environmental action. 

Through this project APY aimed to empower young people in Armenia, to actively contribute to climate awareness, climate justice, and youth-led environmental action by strengthening their knowledge, participation, and leadership capacities, while creating meaningful pathways for connecting local climate initiatives with national dialogue and engagement processes in the lead-up to COP17.

Read more about the project here.  

On October 21, the Cultural & Social Narratives Lab (CSN Lab) presented Blue Yerevan, a project exploring the connections between urban water heritage, ecosystems, social and cultural memory, and community life, at the COP17 Blue Zone.

Moderated by HBS South Caucasus Director Sonja Schiffers, the panel brought together perspectives from environmental research, architecture, urban studies, anthropology and oral history to reflect on what a city loses when its water disappears.

 

The Blue Yerevan project also comprises an exhibition, which CSN Lab presented at the COP17 Green Zone. The exhibition explores the history, memory, and hydro-narratives of Yerevan’s water bodies, tracing the evolution of the city’s urban water heritage through the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. 

 

On 27 October, HBS Yerevan organised a workshop titled “Environmental Democracy Under Pressure: Mining, Extraction and the Socio-Ecological Conflicts Shaping Biodiversity Conservation in Armenia” in the COP17 Green Zone.

The event featured research presentations by two Green Lab alumni and speakers: Aida Papikyan from the Acopian Center for the Environment at the American University of Armenia and Inga Zarafyan from EcoLur.

Read more about the workshop​ here

 

EcoLur and HBS Yerevan hosted two screenings of the documentary “AMULSAR: Costing higher than gold” at COP17’s Blue Zone. The documentary explores the environmental and social costs of the Amulsar gold mining project, bringing attention to the potential consequences of mining for biodiversity, ecosystems and local communities.

The screenings offered an opportunity to connect Armenia's ongoing environmental challenges with the broader discussions on biodiversity conservation, responsible natural resource governance and environmental accountability.

 

The Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Yerevan Office brought together Green members of the German Bundestag, Jan-Niclas Gesenhues and Harald Ebner, with Armenian civil society representatives and activists to discuss the key challenges facing Armenia as the host country of COP17, particularly in the area of biodiversity protection.

We also hosted a meeting with German environmental civil society organizations at our office, providing a space to exchange perspectives and discuss expectations and priorities for the COP17 negotiations.