While COP-17 documents show that Armenia is committed to expand green space, construction waste at the venue for the global environmental summit, to be held this fall in Yerevan, is tumbling into the Hrazdan Gorge even though the Yerevan Municipality has promised to designate the gorge as a specially protected nature area.

Construction is underway at the Meridian Expo Center to level and asphalt the area adjacent to the building. On July 13, Hetq recorded that heaps of soil resulting from the leveling of the area have spilled into the gorge, filling the riverbed and damaging trees in the area.

What is being built for COP17 in Yerevan

Meridian Holding CJSC and Armenia’s State Property Management Committee (SPMC), a subdivision of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure signed an agreement on September 25, 2025. obligating Meridian Holding to prepare the Expo Center and bring it in line with U.N. requirements by the time of the COP17 event.

After the COP17 summit, the SPMC (more broadly the “state”) will have the right to use the area for up to 200 days per year, paying 460 drams per square meter daily for a period of six years.

Initially, the contract provided for the construction of a cafeteria and a ramp, the reconstruction of five Expo Center floors of the Expo Center, earthworks for concrete platforms for temporary structures, and the improvement of public areas. On April 28, 2026, amendments were made to the contract. The agreement significantly expanded the scope of the reconstructed areas and added one new complex consisting of seven buildings. Specific engineering structures were also added: three electrical substations and a newly built boiler house. The initial total cost of the contract increased from AMD 5.775 billion to 5.931 billion.

What does Armenia promise as part of COP17

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework sets out four goals and twenty-three targets aimed at preserving global biodiversity by 2030.

For Armenia, five goals and thirty national targets have been set by the Minister of Environment’s decree “On approving the goals of biodiversity conservation of the Republic of Armenia and the action plan for 2026-2030” dated April 3, 2026.

The fourteenth national target involves the “green” development of communities, including cities. To implement this target, it is planned to expand the green area of ​​​​Yerevan by at least two square meters per inhabitant.

The next step is to create at least one specially protected nature area within the borders of Yerevan and develop its management plan. The first phase is planned to be conducted by 2030, and the definition of a specially protected area and the development of its management plan are planned to be conducted by 2027. Armenia’s Ministry of Environment is responsible for implementing both steps, which must be implemented with the consent of the Yerevan Municipality.

Hrazdan Gorge to be designated as a specially protected area

On June 29, 2026, the Yerevan Municipality decided to grant the Hrazdan Gorge the status of a specially protected nature area. 

The Yerevan Municipality’s draft decision has been refined and will be presented at the upcoming session of municipality for review. Yerevan will thus be the first community to designate a specially protected communal nature area. During the June 29 session,  Sirarpi Haykazyan, the acting head of the municipality’s Environmental Protection Department, noted that “this is an important commitment prior to COP17.”

“Within this framework, strict control norms will be established for all work to be conducted in the gorge, based on an executed biodiversity study. Hrazdan Gorge will have a management plan after receiving the status of a specially protected area. The Asian Development Bank has announced a tender for this plan. A management body will be established within its framework," noted Haykazyan.

Ministry assumes no oversight responsibility

Hetq sent a written request to the Ministry of Environment to clarify whether it   is aware of the consequences of the construction occurring at the Hrazdan Gorge and whether the ministry is planning to take any measures as a result.

In response, the ministry only noted that it is not a body that exercises supervisory functions over environmental protection norms.

Hetq also asked the ministry whether, in its opinion, the discharge of soil and rock into the Hrazdan River could change the course of the waterway, obstruct its flow, and cause biodiversity damage.

The ministry responded to these questions with one sentence:

“Environmental impact assessment and expertise are conducted in cases provided for in Article 12 of the Law On Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise.

The ministry also suggested that Hetq contact the Urban Development, Technical Standards and Fire Safety Inspectorate and the inspection agencies of the Ministry of the Environment.

A security guard at the Media Expo Center construction site barred Hetq from entering or photographing the area, claiming it was private property. When we tried to get clarification from the ministry as to why the area where the COP17 international conference is to be held is “off limits” to the public, the ministry responded that no one is allowed to enter the site without the presence of one of its representatives.

On the eve of COP17, Armenia is making ambitious promises that are hard to believe, given its attitude towards the Hrazdan Gorge. While officials are developing and approving strategies on paper, these commitments are being violated at the conference venue.