Armenia was elected, Thursday, October 31, against its enemy Azerbaijan to host the 17th United Nations conference on nature conservation in 2026, following an unprecedented vote by the member countries of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) gathered in Colombia.
The two countries, in conflict for decades, were both candidates. For the first time in the history of the CBD, a secret ballot had to be organized to decide between them. Armenia won with 65 votes cast against 58, announced in plenary the president of COP16 which is coming to an end in the city of Cali.
Since the birth of this convention in 1992, member countries have until now always ended up finding a consensus on the host country, according to CBD spokesperson David Ainsworth.
It was decided at COP13 in Mexico that the presidency of COP17 would go to a country from the Central and Eastern Europe group which, at the UN, includes Russia and the countries of the Caucasus.
Azerbaijan, which is already hosting a major UN summit from November 10, the COP29 on climate, had applied to chair this COP17 biodiversity, and Armenia followed suit.
On Wednesday evening, representatives of the two countries took to the COP16 podium to extol, with supporting video, the merits of their local biodiversity and their capacity to host and chair such a summit, crucial for humanity to maintains its objectives, adopted two years ago, to stop the destruction of nature by 2030.
It is at COP17 that countries must take stock at mid-term and possibly strengthen their efforts. But the credibility of this assessment depends on complex rules which must be adopted in Cali and still do not reach consensus on the last day of the summit.
The two countries still in conflict
“We will be very happy to welcome all delegations (…), the Armenian government will do everything possible to make COP17 a real success”thanked Davit Manoukian, from the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two former Soviet republics have been in conflict for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave under Azerbaijani sovereignty. Populated mainly by Armenians, it was taken back militarily by Baku in September 2023, and the entire population of nearly 120,000 people took refuge in Armenia.
Peace negotiations between the two countries have not yet been concluded despite increasing pressure from the international community on Baku for the peace agreement to be signed before COP29. Uzbekistan was also in the running for a time, but withdrew.