ArmInfo. In Armenia, the competent authorities do not pay due attention to the issue of climate change in terms of impact on biodiversity. This was stated by the head of the
Silva Adamyan at a January 13 press conference.
The expert noted that the consequences of the negative impact of climate change are already observed in Armenia. In particular, this process affected Lake Sevan, which "bloomed" in 2018 and 2019 due to blue- green algae. Small hydropower plants, which were built on rivers in violation of existing standards, also contributed to the deterioration of the situation with water resources. This, for its part, "hit" the river ecosystem, thereby exacerbating the effects of climate warming. Adamyan drew attention to large-scale forest fires in Australia, the victims of which were hundreds of millions of animals. Meanwhile, in her words, in Armenia, the competent authorities do not pay due attention to the problem of climate change in terms of impact on biodiversity. This is especially depressing due to the fact that last year there was an increase in forest fires in the republic, which also captured specially protected natural areas. In addition, forest fires occurred in the winter, which Adamyan called unprecedented. The head of the Association Association for Sustainable Human Development, Karine Danielyan noted that, according to the UN, in the last 50 years, due to climate change, there has been an increase in the number of natural disasters on the planet. Moreover, as was emphasized, only in the last 3-4 years their number has quadrupled. With this in mind, she called on the relevant authorities to review the policy of subsoil use and urban development in Armenia, especially given the high risks of desertification.
As the Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia Erik Grigoryan previously reported, from 1960 to 2019 the average annual air temperature in Armenia increased by 1.3 degrees. Over the indicated period, the amount of precipitation in the republic decreased by 9%, which has a negative impact, including on agriculture. To recall, having ratified the Paris Agreement, Armenia committed to increase the size of forest territories by 285 thousand ha by 2050, which implies the planting of 800-900 million trees.
This means that up to 30 million seedlings should be planted annually. This process automatically implies the creation of new seedling nurseries, the creation of additional jobs, active interaction with communities adjacent to forests, and so on. It is expected that the large-scale planting program will enter the active phase around 2025-2026.