ZCMC to be the first in Armenia to present a report on biodiversity  management

ArmInfo.Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) will present an international report on  biodiversity management (TNFD) at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-17). Armen Stepanyan, ZCMC Director for Sustainable Development (CSO - Chief  Sustainability Officer), said this in response to a question from an ArmInfo correspondent on the sidelines of the Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Yerevan on May 15.

Noting that ZCMMC will be the first in Armenia to present such a  report, he mentioned that it will likely be the only one. According  to Stepanyan, in general, Armenian businesses do not have successful  cases for biodiversity management that could be presented at the  upcoming COP-17. "This is not pessimism. This is the reality," the  head of the Sustainable Development Combine said with regret. In this  context, he expressed concern that the working style of ZCMC and the  gold extraction company Lydian Armenia for some reason does seem to  be influential and widespread throughout the country, which raises  many questions. In particular, he recalled the project proposed by  Lydian Armenia within the operation of the Amulsar mine and approved  by the RA government. It was about the construction of a National  Park in Jermuk  to compensate for the loss of biodiversity. However,  due to a lack of communication with the Ministry of Environment for  various reasons, Armenia missed the opportunity to establish a  National Park meeting international standards back in 2021. "And this  is, indeed, a big loss for the mining industry of Armenia," Stepanyan  said.

 During the panel discussion titled "A Bridge between COP-30 in  Brazil and COP-17 in Armenia", held as part of the Conference,  Stepanyan also noted that people often have the stereotype that  mining inevitable leads to biodiversity loss. But preserving  biodiversity is very important for the mining industry itself, as  these losses pose immediate and significant risks to our sector as  well. Maybe in many cases it is so, but the world has already proven  that it is a completely manageable process," Stepanyan said. As an  example, he referred to the statement  made by the president of Vale,  one of the world's largest mining corporations. IN the statement the   latter noted that according to this indicator of impact, the share of  the mining industry in the world is only 0.5%, while about 40-50% is  accounted for by urbanization processes and human agricultural  activities.

 In this vein, Stepanyan noted that the a large-scale mining project  involves huge financial resources, specialists for studying baseline  date, etc. "Please provide at least one agricultural program that  addresses the issue of preserving biodiversity with the same depth  and science-intensive approach as mining projects," the expert said.  According to him, the mining industry in Armenia is currently leading  in terms of responsible activity, which is a result of addressing  serious issues that the industry has faced for many years. Thus, as  Stepanyan noted, a standard for the mining industry has been  established, making it almost invulnerable. "Today, there are mining  programs being designed  that can be considered flawless. And this is  the result of years of working on mistakes. In my opinion, the mining  industry today,  serves as a model for all other areas," Stepanyan  emphasized, noting that the state, the financial sector and local  communities must all make  demands on industry enterprises.