Mainstreaming Sustainable Land and Forest Management in Mountain Landscapes of North-Eastern Armenia

What we do

Armenia is located at the junction of the biogeographic zones of the Lesser Caucasus and the Iranian and Mediterranean zones and exhibits both a great range of altitudinal variation and a diversity of climatic zones. Together, this has resulted in a diversity of landscapes and ecological communities with a distinct flora and fauna, including many regionally endemic, relict, and rare species.  Across much of the country, these landscapes face moderate to severe deforestation and overgrazing pressures, corresponding in high rates of erosion, increasing soil salinity, lowered soil fertility, and loss of biodiversity. 

The target area of the project, Lori and Tavush regions, contains 65% of Armenia’s forest resources and provides essential ecosystem services including water provision (for urban use and food production), landslide control and carbon storage and sequestration. The main cause of land and forest degradation in these regions is the deforestation and overexploitation of forest resources.

The long-term solution sought by the “Mainstreaming Sustainable Land and Forest Management in Mountain Landscapes of North-Eastern Armenia” project is to facilitate the shift from the current unsustainable to sustainable forest management in North-Eastern Armenia. To achieve this, the project objective will ensure sustainable land and forest management to secure continued flow of multiple ecosystem services.

This would be achieved through two main components:

(i) Integration of sustainable forest and land management objectives into planning and management of forest ecosystems to reduce degradation and enhance ecosystem services in two marzes covering 0.65 million hectares; and

(ii) Sustainable Forest Management practices effectively demonstrating reduced pressure on high conservation forests and maintaining flow of ecosystem services.

The project will promote an integrated approach towards fostering sustainable forest management, seeking to balance environmental management with development and community needs.

It will attempt to reduce conflicting forest land-uses and improve the sustainability of forest management so as to maintain the flow of vital ecosystem services and sustain the livelihoods of local forest-dependent communities (and downstream users). This platform will be underpinned by a robust forest management planning support system and monitoring framework that will inform plans for the forest estate.

The GEF alternative will support carbon stock assessments and development of coefficients for key forest types in NE Armenia as part of a longer-term strategy for establishing a carbon stock monitoring system in the country. The project would establish a monitoring system to set up a series of representative sample sites that will be subject to a series of above-ground and below-ground biomass measurements, in different biotypes and land uses.

Some results so far

The draft Forest Management Plans of Ijevan and Noyemberyan Forest Enterprises (FEs) have been completed and submitted to the Ministry of Nature Protection. The accurate boundaries between Noyemberyan and Ijevan FEs and local communities were verified on the basis of purchased high-resolution satellite images. The FMPs of Artsvaberd, Gugark and Yeghegnut Forest Enterprises are expected to be completed in 2018.

A forest rehabilitation technical project for coppicing degraded forests in Lalvar FE of Hayantar SNCO (near the Odzun community) was implemented in 2017 which involved coppicing on 93 ha of degraded forests. The deadwood generated as a result of the joint work was delivered to the vulnerable families in Odzun and neighboring communities.

A passive solar greenhouse was constructed in Ardvi community, Lori region, in collaboration with UNDP “Climate Risk Mitigation: Passive Solar Greenhouse” project. The greenhouse will increase the income of the forest-dependant community and relieve the pressure on the nearby forests.

A solar fruit drying facility was constructed in Voskepar village, Tavush region, in collaboration with the UNDP “Integrated support to rural development: Building resilient communities” project, funded by the Russian Federation, to complement the refrigerator and packaging facilities installed by the latter.

In collaboration with UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme, two small grants have been given in Tavush region: (a) testing and manufacturing of energy-saving heating and cooking stoves in Noyemberyan, Tavush region; and (b) photovoltaic systems and solar water heaters in kindergartens in Ijevan, Tavush region.

The procurement of a briquetting facility and supporting agricultural machinery to establish briquette production in Mets Parni community of Lori region, as alternative to fuel-wood consumption, was launched in late 2017 and is expected to be completed in 2018. The installation of the briquetting facility will be an additional source of income for the village, open new jobs in the village, and create alternative fuels, thus reducing the dependence of the community on fuelwood.

Impact

START DATE

January 2016

END DATE

December 2019

STATUS

Completed

PROJECT OFFICE

Armenia

IMPLEMENTING PARTNER

ARM - Ministry of Environment

DONORS

Armenia Government

Global Environment Fund Trustee

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS

$3,953,188

DELIVERY IN PREVIOUS YEARS

2016$136,562

2017$527,230

2018$916,745

2019$866,207

2020$699,077

2021$24,630

Full Project information