This is one of the announcements made by the “Armenia’s forests” NGO.
The NGO is confronted with local ecological problems every day, is well
informed about the horrible situation of Armenia’s forests and is
trying to help preserve the forests of Armenia through its activities.
The “Armenia’s forests” organization is involved in cutting down
forests, preservation, widening and restoration of forests. Also, it
studies the present situation of Armenia’s forests. As a result of
those studies, the NGO has drawn a conclusion that if deforestation
continues, there will be no more forests in Armenia in the next 20
years. This means that Armenia faces an ecological destruction.
The “Armenia’s forests” NGO was founded in 2002 with the initiative
taken by Armenian American businessman James Tufenkian. Currently the
organization is run by James Tufenkian’s cousin Jeffrey Tufenkian.
Jeffrey Tufenkian visited Armenia for the first time in 2002. He
doesn’t consider his work easy in the ecology field due to the fact
that he is confronted with many problems in the local area. “There are
many problems connected with the environment,” says Jeffrey Tufenkian.
“we know that there are 4,000-7,000 hectors of deforestation done
during the year, meanwhile there are only 200 trees. That is why during
the course of 20 years, Armenia will lose all its forests. This will
affect people’s health, the water resources, the local climate. As a
matter of fact, some brooks and rivers are ceasing to exist. We are
very concerned about these ecological issues.”
Last year during the spring, through one of the projects implemented by
the NGO, a tree plantation took place in the 100 hector land of the
Odzun village of the Lori region (125,000 trees of 14 different types
were planted). One part of the Lori regions was deforested. The local
residents of the region had also participated in planting the trees.
The NGO has also organized a contest for making different types of
Christmas trees as well as a project banning the cutting down of fir
trees. The organization feels that it has achieved something because in
the past few years there have been fewer fir trees cut down on the
streets of Yerevan. However, these initiatives can not solve the local
ecological issues. If Armenia had 25% topsoil forests in the beginning
of the 20th century, today that percentage has gone down to 8-9%.
Every year, approximately 500,000 cubic meters of fire wood is burned,
which means that 4000 hectors of the forests are cut down for the use
of the wood. According to Mr. Tufenkian, fighting against these
problems is not easy but he is certain that they can be overcome.
“During the short time that the organization is doing its job, we have
had many successes and we have worked with local organizations. There
are many issues to solve in Armenia, but by collaborating with the
citizens and the government we hope that we will be able to preserve
and restore Armenia’s forests. The ecological problems here are
primarily connected with poverty. Many don’t have the desire to
deforest, but they are forced to in order to stay warm during the
winter. People need resources for keeping warm. If that becomes
accessible, then people will no longer feel the need of cutting down
trees. However, there are trees which are cut down for financial means.
There are certain groups of people involved in solving these issues
connected with corruption. They export the wood to Iran, Italy, and
Spain. These countries have larger forests than Armenia. This is very
crucial for Armenia and we can not wait 5 or 10 years. If we don’t act
now, then tomorrow will be too late. We must take steps at all levels,
including the government, international organizations and the residents
of Armenia. We hope to see a new form of politics in this field.”