Armenia, a mountainous, landlocked country in the South Caucasus, is one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe and Central Asia to climate change. The nation’s average temperature has risen by more than 1.2°C since 1929, and changing climatic patterns have caused the degradation of important landscapes, including watersheds and wetlands.
In the face of those challenges, Armenia has launched an ambitious effort to adapt to climate change and cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions, which fuel the climate crisis.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently spoke with Armenia’s Deputy Environment Minister, Gayane Gabrielyan, about those plans and how the country is preparing for a new climate normal.
How is Armenia addressing its environmental challenges, including the climate crisis?
Gayane Gabrielyan (GG) : Armenia is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the Europe and Central Asia region. Reducing Armenia’s vulnerability to climate change requires greater investments and greater integration of both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. In this regard, the Government of Armenia is mainstreaming and integrating climate crisis considerations into national and sectoral development policies.
In 2016 the government began discussing the National Adaptation Plan process by conducting national consultations and undertaking a rapid stocktaking exercise. The stocktaking provides a qualitative assessment of the institutional framework and capacities relevant to the process. With financing from the Green Climate Fund, the Government of Armenia is in the process of developing a national plan for climate change adaptation.
How is Armenia incorporating environmental issues into its policymaking?
GG: The government has been mainstreaming and integrating climate change considerations into national and sectoral development policies. As such, the implementation of energy efficiency measures and the introduction of renewable energy sources are high priorities, contributing also to economic and social goals.
Among the examples of our policy are the approval of the National Action Program of Adaptation to Climate Change and the adoption of the updated Nationally Determined Contributions 2021-2030 under the Paris Agreement, which sets the new unconditional mitigation target of a 40 per cent reduction below 1990 emissions levels by 2030. Within the government, a special inter-agency council was established to effectively streamline and elevate climate-related decision processes.
Moreover, according to the Government Action plan for 2021 to 2026, the sector-specific policy will fundamentally be aimed at raising Armenia’s resilience to climate change by introducing best practices of adaptation, by actively participating in the global efforts for low carbon development and by fulfilling international commitments on climate change mitigation.
The transition to climate neutrality is at the core of Armenia’s energy independence, energy security and green growth policies. Our long-term goal is to achieve climate neutrality in the second half of this century.
How important is global cooperation in tackling the climate crisis?
GG: I think everyone across the world acknowledges that this is an absolutely decisive decade ahead in which we have to prove ourselves with the aim of preserving our shared future and common home. We can keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C and a low-carbon future only if we come together and commit to doing our part with strong determination and ambition.
The threat of climate change knows no borders. Every country has a unique experience to share in terms of identifying and tackling the problem in an effective way. Sharing this experience is always beneficial.
How has UNEP’s work supported Armenia?
GG: We are party to 10 Multilateral Environmental Agreements administered by UNEP, and within these frameworks, actively involved in global and regional initiatives and processes.
The reports, reviews, outlooks and other sectoral documents developed within the UNEP initiatives are an introductory basis for the formulation of national environmental policies and allow Armenia, as a developing country, to learn from the experience of partner countries, as well as obtain information on the best available tools and policies. The direct and indirect support received by Armenia from UNEP has an important role in shaping the environmental agenda and reforms implemented in the country's environmental sector.
Armenia pays its full share to UNEP’s Environment Fund, thereby providing crucial support to UNEP’s work in helping countries address the triple planetary crisis. What motivates you to provide core funding to UNEP?
GG: Considering the effective participation of Armenia in the processes carried out within UNEP, it is obvious that responsible payments from all countries are necessary for the effective functioning of UNEP and its implementation of core activities. Armenia reaffirms the importance of further strengthening and scaling up cooperation for the implementation of the ambitious environment and climate crisis agenda.
The Environment Fund is the core source of flexible funds to UNEP. It provides the bedrock for work worldwide as UNEP supports countries to deliver on the environmental dimensions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. To support the Environment Fund, each of the 193 Member States is encouraged to contribute their full share, as represented by the indicative scale of contributions, established in 2002 by the Member States themselves. The scale considers each country individually and distributes responsibility collectively. Investing in UNEP means investing in the health of the planet and its people.
