On September 9, 2011 was organized the Steering Committee meeting under the EU-funded regional project “Identification and implementation of adaptation response to Climate Change impact for Conservation and Sustainable use of agro-biodiversity in arid and semi-arid ecosystems of South Caucasus” by the Azerbaijan Branch office of REC Caucasus, at Aarhus Center. The meeting was attended by the representatives of ministries of Nature Protection, Agriculture, and Economy of the Republic of Armenia, representatives of EU Delegation in Armenia, State Agricultural University of Armenia, international, donor and non-governmental organizations (UNDP, GIZ, ICARE, WWF and ADP), as well as UNFCCC and UNCBD Focal Points in Armenia.
The purpose of the gathering was to present and discuss the project objectives, action plan and expected outcomes in the South Caucasus Region. The meeting was officially opened by REC Caucasus Armenia BO director, Ms. Nune Harutyunyan and Agro-biodiversity project national Team Leader Dshkhuhi Sahakyan.
During the discussion main issues raised by Steering Committee members included selection of arid and semi arid areas, setting-up of the criteria for guidance in selection process of arid and semi arid areas for project implementation, awareness raising on project implementation among the communities. Although, there have been some contradictions regarding the regional criteria for selection of target ecosystems and related communities for the project during the discussion, after active discussions, questions and answers, Steering Committee members came to final conclusions;
The Committee accepted terminology on arid and semi-arid ecosystems, pre-selected areas have been determined and the criteria of the pilot areas were discussed and will be finalised after the preliminary surveys which will be done within the project.
