Banned Insecticides Also Carelessly Used
Very few of Armenia's once abundant forests are left today. Over the last 13 years, forests have fallen victim first to the blockade and the resulting energy crisis, and then to human greed and carelessness. A number of companies have been cutting down trees for lumber, despite the fact that deforestation for industrial purposes is prohibited.
A difficult test awaits ecological organizations and the society at large in Armenia. Months ago, they somehow managed to save the Shikahogh Preserve, which the government, more specifically the Ministry of Transport and Communication, was preparing to sacrifice for an admittedly necessary highway. Now a similar threat of annihilation hangs over the Teghut forest in the Lori Marz.
Yerevan has one official garbage dump, in Nubarashen. But in practice there are two. As senseless as it is, the Hrazdan Gorge has been used as a dump since Soviet times. Hakob Sanasaryan, Chairman of the Union of Greens of Armenia, is not exaggerating when he says that if Hrazdan Gorge were in any civilized country in the world it would be a protected area. The Gorge deserves that, both in terms of its archeological significance and in the...