| My Forest Armenia at COP17: 12 Days Dedicated to Biodiversity

For 12 days, My Forest Armenia was actively involved in the COP17 on biodiversity in Yerevan, bringing together people from around the world to discuss the importance of preserving biological diversity on the planet.

Through our immersive Forest Biodiversity installation, and our presence in the Green Zone through panel discussions, conferences, as well as discussions at our booth, we invited visitors to discover our work and the vital role forests play in protecting biodiversity, forests hold 80% of terrestrial biodiversity.

Immersive Experience Installation

One of the central elements of our participation was our installation: Forest Biodiversity: An Immersive Experience, in the Green Zone, which showed in one room the biodiversity of forests above ground with a 360° projection on all four walls and in the second room the biodiversity of forests below the ground, featuring three tree roots hanging from the ceiling with lights going from one to the other, illustrating that trees not only communicate with each other but also exchange nutrients, minerals, carbon, etc. highlighting the fact that a forest is, in a fact, one single organism where all the trees, plants, fungi, etc are connected to each other.

The installation welcomed an impressive 14,700 visitors and was made possible thanks to the support of ID Bank and Idram, the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, the Embassies of Belgium and Germany in Armenia, to whom we share our very special thanks.

Exhibiting in the expo hall

In addition, we had a booth in the Expo hall on the 3rd floor.

Many visitors from Armenia and abroad visited our stand where interesting contacts were made. Two notable visits were by Jean-Luc Crucke, Belgium’s minister of mobility, climate and ecological transition, and Armenia’s Minister of Environment, Hambardzum Matevosyan, where My Forest Armenia founder and director André Gumuchdjian highlighted our ongoing projects, spoke about the challenges of forest restoration, and showed the organisation’s identification of 15,000 ha of suitable lands for afforestation.

Left: Jean-Luc Crucke, Minister of Climate and Environment of Belgium and H.E. Eric De Muynck, Ambassador of Belgium to Armenia, visiting our booth. Right: Andre Gumuchdjian, shows to Hambardzum Matevosyan, Minister of Environment of Armenia, 15,000 ha of suitable lands for afforestation in Armenia.

These visits allowed to highlight the significance of sustained cooperation in restoring forests and protecting biodiversity.

Conferences:

We participated in different conferences and panel discussions on forest restoration and biodiversity conservation.

Andre Gumuchdjian made two presentations, one in the Green Zone and one in the Urban Biodiversity Zone, about the challenges and opportunities of large-scale reforestation.

We also organised a panel discussion focused on urban forestry and its role in creating healthier and more resilient cities, with top level speakers, Françoise Jacob (UN resident Coordinator in Armenia), Maria Chiara Pastore (Politecnico di Milano, National Biodiversity Future Center), Taron Aleksanyan (Chief scientist of MFA), Zaruhi Mamyan (Chair of Urbanism at the University of Architecture of Armenia) and Gorik Avetisyan (Deputy head of Environmental department of Yerevan municipality), moderated by Giovanni Sala (Politecnico di Milano, MFA strategic advisor).

With the Forest Alliance of Armenia we initiated a “Forest Dialogues” series. One of them, “Bridging Forest, Climate and Biodiversity Agendas” took place in the Armenia Pavilion in the Blue Zone, where Andre Gumuchdjian presented our vision. Another one, “Forests, Biodiversity and Climate: delivering multiple benefits,” was organized in the Green Zone and was moderated by our Deputy Director Lilith Martirosyan.

Site visits:

To give COP17 participants and journalists a first-hand look at forest restoration, we organised visits to the Jrashen afforestation site and Benjamin Gumuchdjian Nursery in the Lori region. We were excited to see experts from different corners of the world come discover our experience and share theirs.

The whole My Forest Armenia team was mobilised for this event and thanks to their dedication a great number of people from all over the world discovered and appreciated our work. A big shoutout also to our 53 motivated volunteers, who generously gave their time and energy throughout the 12 days and helped us make COP17 such a memorable experience!