Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

WSL scientists attend the UN Biodiversity Conference

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) is accredited as an observer organization for this year's meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The conference in Yerevan (Armenia) focuses, among other things, on assessing how far countries have come in their efforts to protect global biodiversity. To this assessment, visiting WSL scientists will contribute scientific expertise. Additionally, they will showcase a project promoting reforestation and climate adaptation in Armenia.

  • Thanks to a new accreditation, five WSL scientists will attend the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
  • Their goal is to contribute scientific expertise to the international assessment of efforts to protect biodiversity.
  • Additionally, WSL scientists will showcase a project promoting reforestation and climate adaptation in Armenia.
An abstract, gradient-coloured symbol consisting of four intertwined loops in orange, green and blue.
The official logo of this year’s meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Five scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) will attend the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP-CBD 17, in Yerevan (Armenia), from the 21st to 30th of October. They include Marco Pütz, Dominik Braunschweiger and Jan Streit from the Environmental Governance research group, along with Tobias Kühnhanss from the Stand Dynamics and Silviculture group, and Dirk Karger from the Dynamic Macroecology group

Thanks to its accreditation as an observer organisation for the COP-CBD 17, WSL gains access to the “Blue Zone” — the area open only to government delegations, accredited press, and observer organisations. There, its researchers are on hand for dialogue with policymakers: "The Blue Zone offers the opportunity to discuss directly with national delegations and representatives of international organisations the scientific evidence that informs international decision-making," says Dirk Karger, who leads the conference visit together with Marco Pütz.

Forest Restoration and Climate Change Adaptation in Armenia

As part of the 'Forest Restoration and Climate Change in Armenia (FORACCA)' project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), WSL promotes reforestation and climate adaptation efforts in Armenia. In participatory workshops, WSL researchers work alongside Armenian NGOs and local communities to co-develop and implement strategies and measures that strengthen climate resilience in both communities and forests. Each measure is elaborated in detail, with clear responsibilities, budgets and timelines to ensure long-term effectiveness.

A man in a white shirt is pointing at a large screen displaying a diagram and text in a bright office with a desk and chairs.
At a FORACCA workshop in Armenia, Dirk Karger presents the latest climate scenarios for Armenia to the Armenian Meteorological Service (Armhydromet) (Photo: Tobias Kühnhanss).

The FORACCA Project

The Forest Restoration and Climate Change in Armenia (FORACCA) project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). This activity of the project is implemented by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research (WSL) in collaboration with Zoï Environment Network as well as the Forest Alliance of Armenia and the FAO.

A view of a circular, partly underground structure with paths and green spaces, surrounded by multi-storey buildings in a city.
The host city of COP-CBD 17 – Yerevan (Photo: Dirk Karger)

Beyond that, securing sustained political support for these measures is also a priority. For Pütz, Braunschweiger, Karger and Kühnhanss — all involved in FORACCA — the “Blue Zone” access is especially valuable, as it enables direct engagement with Armenian environmental policymakers.

“Political advocacy is part of our project. COP-CBD 17 provides us with a platform to present the scientific findings we have produced and to persuade government representatives to adopt, further develop and implement them at national level,” says Dominik Braunschweiger, FORACCA’s project coordinator.

Braunschweiger would like to see the participatory workshop method used in the project applied across the board to draw up local adaptation plans. Dirk Karger and his team, in collaboration with the Armenian Hydrological and Meteorological Service, have developed high-resolution climate scenarios for Armenia. Karger would also like to present these at COP-CBD 17 to local institutions and stakeholders who are not directly involved in the project.

Both in the exclusive “Blue Zone” and the publicly accessible “Green Zone” of the conference, WSL scientists will be hosting their own events and taking part in panel discussions organised by others. Specifically, they are organising four events of their own for the “Green Zone”: “Climate-resilient forest ecosystems: Future pathways for Armenia”, “Good governance for preserving forest biodiversity in Armenia”, “New climate services for nature conservation: the potential of high-resolution climate scenarios for Dilijan National Park”, and “From Climate Risk to Local Action and Nature-based Solutions: A Toolbox for Climate-Resilient Development in Armenia”. In the “Blue Zone”, they will be involved, amongst other things, in events as part of “Science Day” and in the Armenian pavilion.

The researchers hope to incorporate the WSL’s scientific expertise more strongly into international decision-making, as well as to support the implementation of the FORACCA project in Armenia by raising its profile: “The conference is a showcase for the WSL and our project. We hope to be seen and heard by the international and Armenian communities at the events in which we are participating,” says Marco Pütz, FORACCA project manager.

The COP-CBD 17

The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP-CBD) is the most important international political conference on the protection of biological diversity. This year’s conference brings together the 196 Parties of the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed upon in 2022 — 195 states plus the European Union as a community of states. In the “Blue Zone”, discussions will focus on the extent to which the various parties have implemented the framework’s 23 targets over the past four years. These primarily include the protection of at least 30 percent of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030. At the same time, exhibitions, panel discussions and cultural events for a wide audience will take place in the “Green Zone”.

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