Armenia’s Ministry of Nature Protection, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has organized a workshop devoted to the National Action Plan on Climate Change Mitigation.

The discussion is aimed at promoting an exchange of experience in the preparation and implementation of mitigation procedures in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

It has brought together participants from 33 states, as well as some 73 representatives from 11 international organizations.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister of Nature Protection Aram Harutyunyan said that Armenia cannot stand apart from climate change action plans given that all the states-parties to the Convention (around 200 countries) are required to elaborate a joint action program.

“It is mainly the greenhouse gases that bring about a climate change and contribute to the degradation of water resources and soils. We must be able to create statuses enabling us to reduce the greenhouse gases. It is necessary to organize the combustion in a manner that would decrease the number of the gases causing a climate change,” he said.

The minister noted that the approaches to be adopted at the meeting will be accessible to all the member-states.

“Every country has its specificities and is elaborating its activities, but that are general provisions that have to be maintained,” Harutyunyan added.

Armenia is among the first countries to ratify the Framework Convention on Climate Change (1993). In the past 19 years, the country has actively participated in the negotiation processes under the convention.

The concept on the “National Action Plans for Climate Change Mitigation was officially included in the international negotiations agenda in 2007. It was later amended and gained more momentum following the Durbin Decisions.