Wednesday, December 23 2020 14:04

ArmInfo.The Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets launched its We are our Forests campaign as part of its Aid for Artsakh project, in order  to provide emergency relief to the forests and ecosystems of Artsakh.  By raising $50,000, the FPWC will be able to plant 50 000  site-specific trees as part of its mission to protect and conserve  the biodiversity of the region.

As the Foundation reports, trees will be grown in a tree nursery  owned by FPWC with a Target Plant Concept(TPC) methodology. The TPC  is an effective framework for selecting seedlings based on specific  characteristics best-suited to a given site. These characteristics  are often scientifically derived from testing the factors that can be  linked to outplanting success, such as seedling morphology and  physiology, genetic source, and overcoming limiting factors on  outplanting sites. The method allows to have very high survival rates  (80-90%).

The growing cycle will begin in March, 2021. By October, 2021 plants  will be ready for the outplanting.  The planting season starts from  mid-October to late November. The days can vary based on weather  conditions. It's also possible to maintain some part of the trees  during winter and plant during March and early April neat year.

Maintenance of planted trees and survival rate tracking: FPWC will  cooperate with the Artsakh Nature Fund, the first environmental CSO  in Artsakh to provide the further care and track survival rates of  planted trees. Artsak Nature Fund was established to conserve and  sustain the unique natural heritage and biodiversity of Artsakh. It  is the first organization to receive an international funding from  Fondation Franklinia, a Geneva based organization, which recognized  Artsakh and supported the initiative towards conservation of its  unique forests in Y2019.

FPWC and ANF will maintain and monitor the growth of trees 5 years  after planting. This includes irrigation during summer months,  patrolling by rangers to prevent unregulated grazing, remove and  prevent weeds around the plants, etc. During these years the tree  species will grow and develop a strong root system to grow  independently. Though the main maintenance will last two years, we  will continue monitoring and patrolling the reforested areas during  at least another 5 years, to make sure no negative human impact is  recorded on the site. 

Rangers will patrol the planted areas and monitor the survival rates.  This is a huge benefit for the project, as we have a constant  supervision of planted trees, which help us to respond quickly to any  disruption of normal growth. 

An evidence-based approach will be used by applying data gathering  with GPS coordinates. Planted trees will be divided into blocks and  recorded with the GPS coordinates, type of species, etc. The survey  team will locate each tree block and record its measurements along  with survival rates during the year. This will give us a better  understanding of survival rates, as well as get access to real-time  data, so if there is any sort of mistake or issue that disrupts the  normal growth of trees, we can prevent and take actions before it's  late.  To note,during the 44-day war in Artsakh, the Azerbaijani  armed forces intensively used phosphorus bombs prohibited by  international conventions, which destroyed the military force on the  principle of scorched earth. White phosphorus is a killer not only of  people, but also of natural resources. These munitions have caused  numerous forest fires.