‘It is not possible to preserve the nature only by introducing bans’

The UN declared that 2010 the year of the biological diversity. Armenia is the member of the UN Convention on the Biological Diversity and it must undertake a number of steps in this field.

The head of the department of the specially protected territories of the Ministry of Nature Protection Aram Aghasyan says that compared to the last year the protection of the state territories has improved. New national parks ‘Lake Arpi’  and ‘Arevik’ and a state reserve ‘Zanghezur’ were established.

Aghasyan says that there are usually no violations that endanger the ecological environment. The violations are usually related to illegal hunting and deforestation. Aghasyan also says that these types of violations gradually decrease in number too. ‘No violations related to the protection of the nature in ‘Khosrov Reserve’ were registered for the past 2-3 years. Only 3-4 cases of illegal hunting were registered. 6 cases of cutting dead trees were identified in the reserve “Shikahog”,’ said Aghasyan.

Aghasyan explains the reasons for the dwindling number of cases of violations are also tied with the five times rise in the salaries of the forest supervisors. The salary went up from 10-15 thousand to 50-60 thousand drams. Besides, each area of a protected territory has its own supervisor and observers of hunting groups who circle in the territory and they watch the situation.

The head of the Armenian division of the International Foundation for Nature Protection Karen Manvelyan says that professionals from the organization, who monitor the protected territories every month, did not encounter cases of illegal hunting. ‘The territories are vast and the State Oversight Department for the Preservation of Nature does not have so many human and technical resources in order to be able to implement a 100% effective protection policy. New cars and gasoline will be provided to the reserves located in Syunik, Gegharkunik and Vayots Zor so that their administrations will be able to conduct effective supervision,’ said Manvelyan.

Manvelyan said that he worked out a new system for investigating the cases of illegal hunting that are advertised for foreign nationals on internet sites. ‘Let them come, be caught and pay relevant fines. After being caught for several times, they will not come to Armenia for hunting. The sites will be closed. The struggle against the internet site is, nonetheless, a very difficult task.’

There are now 3 state reserves, 4 national parks, 27 restricted areas and 230 monuments of nature. Even though there should be 6^th categories of protected territories according to international standards but the categorization of the territories in Armenia is made according to 4 groups.

Aghasyan says that the mapping works are conducted in all the territories in order to introduce necessary changes. It is essential to know if there is biological diversity and if there are species on the verge of extinction now. ‘We should not forget that we live in a very limited area where there are numerous social and economic problems. Introducing bans will not facilitate the preservation of the nature,’ said Aghasyan.

Manvelyan believes that the effectiveness  of the administrative system is more important than the status of territory. ‘The creation of the protected territories is not a purpose in itself,’ says Manvelyan. He also added up that it is necessary to have the development programs for such a territory, apart from the preservation of the diversity of the nature. In 2000-2002 the inhabitants of the areas surrounding the ‘Shikahog’ reserve were having negative attitudes towards it. Today the attitudes changed thanks to special programs implemented for the purpose. ‘The inhabitants are eager to work at the reserve since it became a source of jobs for them,’ says Manvelyan. Nearly half of the investments intended for the national park ‘Lake Arpi’ will go to the development of the communities.