Biodiversity protection in the Caucasus receives more regional cooperation

The second Pan-Caucasus conference on landscape planning and biodiversity protection took place at the end of April in Ankara.

In addition to representatives from government, academia and NGOs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey, experts from Germany and regionally active organizations such as UNEP and WWF also participated. The objective of the workshop, conducted by the Federal Office for Nature Conservation (BfN) and adelphi, was to identify opportunities for cooperation in the area of landscape planning between the six Caucasus states and to develop a common approach. This is urgently needed – especially when it comes to biodiversity protection in the Caucasus Mountains. Moreover, basic elements – such as a uniform terminology in the field of landscape planning – are still lacking. Following the request of the conference participants, however, a standardized glossary should be available in the near future, in all six languages.