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.
