Epress.am News from Armenia
To fight global warming, the international community aims to turn 33% of planet Earth’s ground layer into forest by 2012. UN member states have made corresponding agreements and are carrying out international commitments, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, a UN Convention on Biodiversity and a UN Convention to Combat Desertification, reads a statement issued by the group to protect Teghut Forest in Armenia today on World Forestry Day, Mar. 21.
“Despite these global processes and the fact that the Republic of Armenia has ratified the above-mentioned conventions, the country’s forested areas have gone from 12% to 6–7% in the last 20 years. This reduction continues day by day as a result of illegal logging and improper management and control. Thousands of hectares of forests in land use documents are represented as having other statuses and are used for other purposes. As a result of such processes, the country’s laws and international commitments are being violated,” reads the statement.
The environmentalists note that the Armenian government declared mining a priority sector for economic development — without analyzing its consequences in the context of sustainable development and competitiveness and without ensuring appropriate environmental legislation.
“Developed on the advice of the World Bank, the new draft Subsoil Code created more favorable conditions for the development of the mining industry, without restricting the use of mineral resources in forests and specially protected natural areas and without ensuring the application of the principle of ‘he who pollutes pays.’ Mining undertaken in our country is often at the expense of forests. This practice began from the indiscriminate destruction of Teghut forest and continues today, including the Kapan and Hrazdan areas. From 2007–2010 alone, the targeted use of more than 1,600 hectares of forested lands in Armenia changed and the areas were allocated for other purposes. Instead, approximately 40 hectares was added to Armenia’s Forest Fund. For purposes of comparison, let us note that in the same period, the Armenian government allocated more than 3,100 hectares for land use.
“As a result of the destruction of forests, our country can become a desert containing millions of tons of toxic waste and trailings, full of land unsuitable for agriculture, devoid of animal or plant life and with dried riverbeds — in just a few decades, depriving a great number of people of their homeland,” reads the statement.
The statement by the environmental activists also calls on the Armenian government to stop the destruction of nature in the country, which serves the interests of a few individuals and groups, and to take radical steps to stop the destruction of forests.
“A country of merely 30,000 square kilometers cannot on one hand promote large-scale mining, while on the other hand, ensure a healthy environment, safe agriculture and tourism,” concludes the statement.