More on the Environment and Corruption in Armenia
Botanical Gardens, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Armenian Forests 2006
After posting an open letter by a member of the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA) sent on to me by one of this blog’s readers, its author has since commented on this site. In particular, Areg Gharabegian, requests that anyone concerned by environmental damage and corruption in Armenia should lobby the office of the Prime Minister.
Now, there is another appeal requesting the same, which I’m posting below. It’s really time for the rot to stop.
Approximately 12 hectares of the 52 hectares of the plantations are illegally taken by some officials. These 52 hectares originally belonged to Armenian Forest Services, but after they dissolved their branch in Armavier region, this land was suppose to be given to Institute of Botany so they can continue this experimental project. US and Canadian fast growing hybrid poplars that have been introduced in Armenia as part of this project could be a source of wood in Armenia which will drastically reduce cutting old trees in forests to use them as fire wood.
The Fast Growing Tree Project has been financed by private donations from Armenian Diaspora in US as well as assistance from ACDI/VOCA, CRDF, and USDA which are funded by US government. Donations from Diaspora are given to Armenia to help general population and not some corrupt government officials. What is happening to the Fast Growing Tree Project in Armenia is not unique and there is a good chance that it can be faith of other projects.
How does Armenian Government expect that Diaspora should give money for different projects when there is a chance that a successful project can be taken over by some corrupt government officials. At the Third Armenia-Diaspora conference in Yerevan, Armenian Government was asking Diaspora to finance reconstruction of 50 villages near Armenian borders. What kind of guarantee is there that after completion of these projects, they will not be taken over? This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
We are looking for your help in spreading the word about this illegal act with the hope that pressure from different sides would save this project. Please contact Armenian Prime Minister and demand that he addresses this issue. Let him know that Armenians will not stand for such illegal acts in Armenia. We need to make it clear that we will accept nothing less than fully honest and transparent government in Armenia.
Please call, fax, send letters and e-mails to the Prime Minister of Armenia on support of the Fast Growing Tree Project.
Mr. Andranik Margaryan
Prime Minister
Government Building 1
Republic Square, Yerevan
Armenia
E-Mail: frd@gov.am
More information on Gharabegian’s concerns can be found detailed in my previous post. As usual, an interview with Sona Ayvazyan, Executive Director and Environmental Policy Expert of the Center for Regional Development / Transparency International Armenia, is available here.
Irrelevant to this post I know, but I thought I might give you a heads up. I remembered seeing you using a statcounter counter, in-fact you still have the code there, it just isn’t working.
I recommend that you remove those two pieces of code and stop using statcounter given it’s track record. I have a hunch that more security issues have cropped up, that’s why statcounter isn’t working.
Last time it was possible that hackers could gain a user’s username and password (basically, everytime someone visits your site, it sends data to statcounter and hackers can exploit this, to gain access).
Anyway, yeh, just thought I’d warn you, there isn’t much by way of information on the net, only old stuff. But my gut says this is another security problem. I also recommend not using the same username and password with free services — Incase their security flops, hackers won’t be able to gain access any other accounts else.
Comment by Esoteric — November 17, 2006 @ 7:30 am