The Armenian forests: threats to conservation and needs for sustainable management

Abstract

In this paper we identify the characteristics of a sustainable forest management strategy and provide specific recommendations to move toward this goal in the forests in Armenia. To provide a context for these recommendations we present brief overviews of Armenian human and physical geography and the forests in the country. Also, we highlight how several crucial issues in the forestry sector have remained unchanged from the Soviet era to the independent period and the implications of this lack of change for the evolution and current state of forests in the country.

Transboundary Basins Need More Attention: Anthropogenic Impacts on Land Cover Changes in Aras River Basin, Monitoring and Prediction

“…Accordingly, the area of forest class decreased from 495,370 hectares in the first period to 164,511 hectares in the second period, and the change affects ~66.7 percent of the whole area of forest class in the study area. These results are in line with the results of Moreno-Sanchez et al [ 80 ], who showed that the total area of forests in Armenia decreased from 294,135 in the period 1987–1989 to 246,098 in the period 2000–2001. Furthermore, regarding the transmission sub-models, almost all of these changes have converted to agriculture.…”