Responsibility for illegal logging to be toughened in Armenia

ArmInfo. Measures for illegal logging will be toughened in Armenia. Amendments to the Criminal Code and the package of related laws were approved at the extraordinary  meeting of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on July 9  in the first reading

As RA Minister of Environment Eric Grigoryan noted, the project was  developed jointly by the Ministry of Nature Protection, Special  Investigation Service and Investigation Committee. It is aimed at  reducing the level of illegal logging and toughening measures of  responsibility. The current articles of the Criminal Code, according  to the minister, do not cover all the existing risks, which appear  not only in the process of illegal logging in order to generate  personal income, but also transportation and sale. Given the  available data and the current situation, an attempt is made to  completely cover all the gaps in the country's legislation, and to  bring the responsibility measures in line with the policy of the  Ministry of Nature Protection for the prevention of illegal logging.  Currently, Eric Grigoryan continued, over 50% of all criminal cases  related to offenses in the field of ecology relate to illegal logging  of forests.

It is envisaged, in particular, to double the rate of penalties in  the first case of cutting, and if the offense is repeated during the  year, to bring violators to criminal responsibility. It is also  planned to sharply increase the penalty rate for the killing of the  Caucasian leopard, which will be 100 million drams instead of the  current rate of 3 million drams. The minister said that currently  between 8 and 12 individuals of the Caucasian leopard are recorded,  the year of which is celebrated in Armenia in 2019. Earlier, the  minister reported that implementation of a program of reforms related  to the forest resources of the country is being discussed in Armenia.  For a long time, according to him, forestry in the country has been  adversely affected, and that there are areas where the forest has  degraded in recent years. According to him, the goals of this program  are very large and ambitious. "The time has come for the forests to  return what they gave to Armenia and the whole world. The time has  come for our actions not to be linear and affect the sphere of  legislative and legal changes, as well as the psychology of the  people," the minister noted.

Eric Grigoryan said that the ministry is holding a wide range of  discussions around forest reforms, which is attended by  representatives of academia and representatives of international  organizations. He also noted the importance of the participation of  the Diaspora in this matter. He said that opportunities will be  created so that the citizens of Armenia, living both in the country  and abroad, have the opportunity to contribute to the work on the  protection of forests. The program budget is 16 million euros. The  program, implemented by the Ministry of Ecology of Armenia in  cooperation with the UNDP and the German Embassy, has two goals: to  create a stable working environment, including monitoring systems  that facilitate management planning, and also to carry out  demonstration works. As part of the program, it is planned to  introduce modern IT technologies, drone technologies, retraining of  personnel and other tasks into the forestry sector.

According to the Investigation Committee, over the past year, 300  criminal cases were initiated in connection with which 100 persons  were charged. In 2015, 18 similar criminal cases were initiated, and  in 2016 - only 6.