Environmental Concerns in Armenia
Armenia Now has a special issue dedicated to environmental concerns in the Republic. Unfortunately, since independence, blockade, corruption, poor governance, the lack of accountability and community involvement in the decision making process, as well as the general decline in the rule of law pose a grave threat to Armenia’s long term future.
Armenia can hardly afford to waste or abuse the precious few natural resources offered the tiny, landlocked republic.
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Government authorities, lawmakers and citizens themselves should heed cautious words of environmentalists. And, advocates for everything green must indulge the crucial condition of a society in which a choice for ecology over economy is as real as clean air versus income.
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In these nine articles we report on one factory that is filling a community’s air with toxins, and another that is clogging plants and people with harmful dust. We look inside reasons why Armenia’s forests are dwindling, and we listen to the debate over whether Armenia’s nuclear power plant is safe.
Hetq Online also has more on the environment here, and my article on the campaign to save the Shikahogh Nature Reserve and Mtnadzor Forest, mentioned in the Armenia Now report on deforestation, is here. Thankfully, environmentalists won in this case, but there is still much work to do.
