Capacity Building for Journalists Ahead of CBD COP17

I had a productive meeting with journalists as part of the COP17 Media School organized by the Ministry of Environment of Armenia and supported by the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment. I delivered a lecture on “Biodiversity: What Do We Know About It?”. The session covered the concept and importance of biodiversity, its role in providing ecosystem services, and its contribution to human well-being.

Participants were also introduced to key conservation tools (both in-situ and ex-situ), including protected and conserved areas, zoos and botanical gardens, seed banks, the IUCN Red List and Armenia’s Red Book, international conventions (CBD, CITES, etc.), and biodiversity monitoring mechanisms. Tomorrow, we will continue with a discussion on global and national biodiversity targets. I strongly believe that the media plays a crucial role in advancing biodiversity conservation globally. We should use this momentum to empower and engage our journalist colleagues, uniting efforts to raise awareness and educate society.