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Armenian Group Fights Large-Scale Disappearance of Forests
Alexander Malkhasyan, WWF Armenia expertOct. 6, 2008 By Emily RudgeIn response to the large-scale felling of trees that occurred during Armenia’s energy crisis in the 1990s, one local group has made reforestation and aggressive biodiversity awareness-raising its impassioned mission. Armenian Forests NGO (AFNGO) works to reclaim, protect and expand Armenia’s forests by enlisting the help of local community, business, government and nongovernmental partners.Educating local communities on two species -- the bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus aegagrus) and the Armenian mouflon (Ovis ammon Gmelinii) -- is a critical part of the group’s approach. Efforts to conserve these globally threatened species, which are extremely vulnerable to habitat loss and poaching, are crucial to preserving not only the overall health of the species but also the forests that sustain both them and many communities.Just as is the case in any ecosystem, it only takes one stroke to start the dominoes falling and in Armenia’s case, the logging industry initiated the push. The large-scale disappearance of forest, juniper trees in particular, has left these animals with no refuge from their predators: the Caucasian leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica) and poachers.Armenian Mouflon Down to a Few Hundred Both of these species are globally threatened. The Armenian mouflon is a species of wild sheep found only in Armenia. Its population has decreased to fewer than several hundred while the bezoar goat numbers fewer than 7,000. Yet local knowledge of and concern for these animals has been dangerously lacking.With Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) support, AFNGO undertook a 2-year project in three regions of the East Lesser Caucasus biodiversity conservation corridor -- a CEPF priority area in the Caucasus Hotspot -- to increase awareness and commitment of decision-makers to biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. Having already obtained highly comprehensive knowledge of the Armenian mouflon and the bezoar goat enabled AFNGO to identify and thus focus its work on the communities located adjacent to the key habitat areas for the species. The organization was also able to expand its activities to cover the Caucasian leopard, which is also globally threatened due in part to the decline of its prey species, the Armenian mouflon and bezoar goat. These areas are located within the three regions, or marzes, of Ararat, Syunik and Vayots Dzor. AFNGO began its initial assessment and subsequent training of the local communities and authorities that reside within these three regions in October of 2006. Reaching Out to 37 Communities“There were times during the project that we were out in the field for a week, visiting three to four communities in a day, meeting with local self-management bodies, hunters’ union reps, and park rangers and ‘recruiting’ them for unfolding the awareness campaign,” AFNGO Public Relations Coordinator Mher Sharoyan said.“We managed to reach an estimated 37 communities in the target area, and we really didn’t expect the scale of interest and initiative that local authorities and common citizens expressed in getting involved in biodiversity protection activities,” he said.More than 15 Armenian NGOs also collaborated with AFNGO on the project. In conjunction with the community training visits, AFNGO launched an awareness-raising campaign via various media, such as billboards, posters and films displaying the biodiversity of Armenia and its protected areas. The films were broadcast twice at primetime through major television stations, reaching an estimated 200,000 people per broadcast. Additionally, AFNGO published and distributed guidebooks and booklets on the bezoar goat and the Armenian mouflon among the three marzes. A local competition to encourage journalists to report on biodiversity topics was held as well, and partnerships and trainings with local NGOs have been established with the aim of ensuring sustainability of the project’s mission. Related to sustainability, Sharoyan said that he would like AFNGO to focus more of its efforts with the schools and the youth in the future. “In the beginning when we were planning the project, we didn’t think to include the schools and the children, but we found out that the youth are very interested in what we are doing,” he said. AFNGO quickly adjusted its program to include educational materials, such as Caucasian leopard puzzles and short film clips, for the youth. He believes that the overall success and impact of an awareness-raising campaign of such a broad scope as that of the AFNGO must have a youth component attached to it.Sharoyan also reflected that, “During the implementation of the project, we have climbed peaks that we have never climbed and have entered the darkest parts of the forest that no man’s feet ever trod, and thankfully, the project was a success- and the films shot in result had tremendous effect with hundreds of thousands of Armenian TV viewers watching and learning about our biodiversity.” Read the final report (PDF, 86 KB) for this project.
More Stories about the CaucasusView all top storiesPhotos courtesy of Armenian Forest NGO
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