Armenian Environment

Physical Environment

Armenia is located in southern Transcaucasia, the region southwest of Russia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Modern Armenia occupies part of historical Armenia, whose ancient centers were in the valley of the Aras River and the region around Lake Van in Turkey. Armenia is bordered on the north by Georgia, on the east by Azerbaijan, on the southwest by the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan, on the south by Iran, and on the west by Turkey (see fig. 1).

Topography and Drainage

Twenty-five million years ago, a geological upheaval pushed up the earth's crust to form the Armenian Plateau, creating the complex topography of modern Armenia (see fig. 2). The Lesser Caucasus range extends through northern Armenia, runs southeast between Lake Sevan and Azerbaijan, then passes roughly along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to Iran. Thus situated, the mountains make travel from north to south difficult. Geological turmoil continues in the form of devastating earthquakes, which have plagued Armenia. In December 1988, the second largest city in the republic, Leninakan (now Gyumri), was heavily damaged by a massive quake that killed more than 25,000 people.

About half of Armenia's area of approximately 29,800 square kilometers has an elevation of at least 2,000 meters, and only 3 percent of the country lies below 650 meters. The lowest points are in the valleys of the Aras River and the Debet River in the far north, which have elevations of 380 and 430 meters, respectively. Elevations in the Lesser Caucasus vary between 2,640 and 3,280 meters. To the southwest of the range is the Armenian Plateau, which slopes southwestward toward the Aras River on the Turkish border. The plateau is masked by intermediate mountain ranges and extinct volcanoes. The largest of these, Mount Aragats, 4,430 meters high, is also the highest point in Armenia. Most of the population lives in the western and northwestern parts of the country, where the two major cities, Erevan and Gyumri (which was called Aleksandropol' during the tsarist period), are located.

The valleys of the Debet and Akstafa rivers form the chief routes into Armenia from the north as they pass through the mountains. Lake Sevan, 72.5 kilometers across at its widest point and 376 kilometers long, is by far the largest lake. It lies 2,070 meters above sea level on the plateau. Terrain is most rugged in the extreme southeast, which is drained by the Bargushat River, and most moderate in the Aras River valley to the extreme southwest. Most of Armenia is drained by the Aras or its tributary, the Razdan, which flows from Lake Sevan. The Aras forms most of Armenia's border with Turkey and Iran as well as the border between Azerbaijan's adjacent Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic and Iran. This is not right or left!

Climate

Temperatures in Armenia generally depend upon elevation. Mountain formations block the moderating climatic influences of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, creating wide seasonal variations. On the Armenian Plateau, the mean midwinter temperature is 0° C, and the mean midsummer temperature exceeds 25° C. Average precipitation ranges from 250 millimeters per year in the lower Aras River valley to 800 millimeters at the highest altitudes. Despite the harshness of winter in most parts, the fertility of the plateau's volcanic soil made Armenia one of the world's earliest sites of agricultural activity.

Environmental Problems

Pre-Independence

A broad public discussion of environmental problems began in the mid-1980s, when the first "green" groups formed in opposition to Erevan's intense industrial air pollution and to nuclear power generation in the wake of the 1986 reactor explosion at Chernobyl'. Environmental issues helped form the basis of the nationalist independence movement when environmental demonstrations subsequently merged with those for other political causes in the late 1980s.

Independence

In the postcommunist era, Armenia faces the same massive environmental cleanup that confronts the other former Soviet republics as they emerge from the centralized planning system's disastrous approach to resource management. By 1980 the infrequency of sightings of Mount Ararat, which looms about sixty kilometers across the Turkish border, became a symbol of worsening air pollution in Erevan.

In independent Armenia, environmental issues divide society (and scientists) sharply into those who fear "environmental time bombs" and those who view resumption of pollution-prone industrial operations as the only means of improving the country's economy. In the early 1990s, the latter group blamed Armenia's economic woes on the role played by the former in closing major industries.

Legislation

In 1994 three national environmental laws were in effect: the Law on Environmental Protection, the Basic Law on the Environment, and the Law on Mineral Resources. The Council of Ministers, Armenia's cabinet, includes a minister of the environment. However, no comprehensive environmental protection program has emerged, and decisions on environmental policy have been made on an ad hoc basis.

Energy Issues

Environmental conditions in Armenia have been worsened by the Azerbaijani blockade of supplies and electricity from outside. Under blockade conditions, the winters of 1991-92, 1992-93, and 1993-94 brought enormous hardship to a population lacking heat and electric power. (The large-scale felling of trees for fuel during the winters of the blockade has created another environmental crisis.) The results of the blockade and the failure of diplomatic efforts to lift it led the government to propose reconstruction of the Armenian Atomic Power Station at Metsamor, which was closed after the 1988 earthquake because of its location in an earthquake-prone area and which had the same safety problems as reactors listed as dangerous in Bulgaria, Russia, and Slovakia. After heated debates over startup continued through 1993, French and Russian nuclear consultants declared operating conditions basically safe. Continuation of the blockade into 1994 gave added urgency to the decision (see Energy , this ch.).

Lake Sevan

Another environmental concern is a significant drop in Lake Sevan's water level because of drawdowns for irrigation and the diversion of water to hydroelectric plants to compensate for the electric power lost through the inactivity of the nuclear plant at Metsamor. This crisis was addressed in 1992-93 by construction of a tunnel to divert water into the lake from the Arpa River. Engineers estimated that once the project is finished, the tunnel will allow 500 million cubic meters of water to be drawn from the lake annually, while maintaining a constant water level. The Ministry of the Environment reported that the lake's water level had dropped by fifty centimeters in 1993. Experts said that this drop brought the level to within twenty-seven centimeters of the critical point where flora and fauna would be endangered.

Industrial Pollution

Among major industrial centers closed to curtail pollution were the Nairit Chemical Plant, the Alaverdi Metallurgical Plant, and the Vanadzor Chemical Combine. Economic requirements triumphed over environmental considerations when the Soviet-era Nairit plant was reopened in January 1992 after being closed in 1989 because of the massive air pollution it caused. Newly independent Armenia needed the income from foreign sales of Nairit rubber and chemical products, many of which had been assigned exclusively to that plant under the Soviet system and were still unavailable elsewhere to the former Soviet republics in the early 1990s. Up-to-date environmental safety technology and adherence to international standards were promised at Nairit when the decision to resume production was announced.

Original Text from 1994 Library of Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/amtoc.html

German Biodiversity Project

GERMANY ALLOCATES 2.2 MLN EUR TO ARMENIA FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT "BIO-DIVERSITY AND NATURE PROTECTION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS REGION"

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9. ARMINFO. German Govenrment has approved 2.2 mln EUR to Armenia for implementation of a program "Bio-diversity in the South-West of Armenia" and "Protection of bio-diversity in Javakheti through transboundary cooperation."

A relevant agreement was signed today by Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia Vardan Ayvazyan and Representative of German KfW bank in Armenia Karapet Gevorgyan. The programs are designed for 30-50 years under a regional project "Protection of bio-diversity and nature in the South Caucasus region." Minister Aycazyan said the programs aim prevention of conflict situations at transboundary Armenian-Georgian territories and planning of joint measures on protection of environment in Javakhk plateau. Under the projects, a National Park Arpi will be developed which will embrace Lake Arpi with its drained basin, brooks and water reservoirs near the villages of Ardenis, Akhuryan, and those near Stepanavan-Tashir highway. The park will occupy a territory of 74 ha and will be divided into three protected zones: reserved territories, on protection of ecological system and on stable development of the park's territories.

The territory of the park Arpi is bordering Georgia and Turkey and located not far from large populated areas in Armenia. Local residents having mass social and economic problems will be attracted to implementation of the project of National Park. Some 70 jobs will be opened for local residents there, the minister said. Under the projects, scientific research will be carried out for possible creation of reserved territories in waterlogged areas to protect water- marsh flora and fauna.

KfW Representative said the regional program was provided to the Georgian an Azerbaijani parties as well, however Azerbaijan has not considered it so far; and in Georgia the government has recently approved the project "Protection of bio-diversity and nature in the South Caucasus region." Factually, implementation of the given ecological program for the South Caucasus has started in Armenia, Gevorgyan said. He added that one of the most important details of the project is solution to social problems of the population in bordering regions, taking into account the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "Each time when CE member-states propose joint programs to the South Caucasian three, political motives hinder their implementation. However, the given program is necessary as nature has no borders and it must be protected without any political conditional characters," Gevorgyan said. The project office will be in Tbilisi for three years then the head office will be moved to the country that will show the most successful and effective implementation of the project. 0.3 mln EUR is allocated to each country for project coordination under control of KfW.

It should be noted that since 1993 the German Government has allocated Armenia some 127 mln EUR through the German bank KfW under various programs in the sphere of energy, finances, water supply and ecology. 100 mln EUR of the above sum were credits and the remaining were grants.

This article contains text from a source with a copyright. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site..

Related articles

• Armenia's Flora
• Armenia's Fauna
• National Parks and Nature Reserves of Armenia