Armenia was one of the first countries to ratify the UN General Assembly’s convention regarding combat against desertification, which had been adopted back in 1994. The RA legislative body had ratified it 20 years ago; as a result, in 2002 National Action Plan was developed. However, 12 years later, it was revised and amended, since according to the Ministry of Nature Protection it was not in line with For more than two decades the government has been declaring that desertification in Armenia is not a global issue; there is simply a phenomenon of over-exploitation of lands. On the contrary, the facts show that the contributing sources of pollution of our country’s land are the following spheres of economic activity: agriculture, industry (mining industry, mining, stonework and chemical industry), energy and transport, utilities, etc. Both in the Soviet era and nowadays, mainly for agricultural purposes and, furthermore, incorrectly, pesticides and fertilizers have being used in the Ararat Valley. Mining is the most dangerous source and contributor to land pollution. Many environmentalists explicitly enounce an opinion that certain territories in Armenia where mining is active are polluted with heavy metals such as Mo, Cu, Cd, Ni, Hg, Cr, Pb and zinc compounds. According to the calculations, the total area of the lands allotted to mining organizations reaches 11-12 thousand hectares, of which 10 thousand hectares of violated land and open mines -1500-1600 hectares. The numbers show that more than 130 both large and medium-sized and small mines have been exploited, furthermore, all mines, except of fours, were exploited in open (elevated) mode. The volume of accumulated waste had been several hundred million cubic meters, and twenty years later these volumes eventually increased. Environmentalists claim that stone processing companies are also sources of pollution. For instance, one unit of affected area causes pollution of 3-4 units, and 1 hectare of open mines pollutes about 10-15 hectares. Both industrial and household waste are significant factors in the contribution of land pollution . Over the years of industrial development (1985-1990), about 36.7 million tons of industrial waste was produced in Armenia per year, of which 20.0 thousand tons were hazardous: containing heavy metals, chromium, fluorine compounds, solvents, etc. It has been 10 years since the Ministry of Nature Protection constantly talking about the issue and deeming necessary to carry out waste inventory work to prevent further degradation of the ecosystem of Armenia. It is also known that such kind inventory works last time were carried out back 30 years ago, in 1987, according to which the total amount of accumulated waste was about 25-26 million tons. “If are to keep exploiting mines, we should think and re-establish the future fate of these lands after exploitation and take steps to restore(recultivate) the lands. It doesn’t necessarily mean bringing to forefront since it is impossible” said Ashot Vardevanyan, National Coordinator of the UN Convention Against Desertification. According to him, there have been similar cases in the in our country in the past where about 250-300 hectares of land were harmed. “Of course, this has not led to the positive results” Vardevanyan added. My interlocutor also noted that it was very important the affected areas be useful in the economy again after restoration. “This does not mean that we should definitely establish a forest in these areas or establish them for agricultural purposes. In the future they can be employed, for example, as an urban development areas” he added. According to Vardevanyan, it was envisaged that the landowner was obliged not to spoil the land, to preserve it and to protect it. And if the land plots were sold and the buyer would find out that the area was polluted with a lot of pesticides, who would be take responsibility for that? In response, our interlocutor mentioned “The certificates issued by the State Committee of Cadastre, besides the size and shape of the land, should also include its quality, humus, heavy metal content, and other data that has not been settled yet.” The National Coordinator of the UN Convention Against Desertification in Armenia reaffirmed that, in our country, there were land-related issues that require appropriate and non-standard solutions, adding that, according to the relevant convention, we had to decide land degradation in dry, semi-arid, dry subsoil areas. Thus, about 80% of the territory of Armenia is in the path of degradation, and about 43% (mainly 1 million 279 thousand hectares in Armavir, Ararat, Gegharkunik, Shirak and Vayots Dzor) desertification. These data were revealed by Armenian experts during the study of the various factors’ impact. According to Vardevanyan, there had been both positive and negative changes over the past 10 years. On the one hand, there was a significant expansion of the protected areas and plantations in the country, whilst, on the other hand there was also an increase of the areas intended for industrial and subsoil use, owning to the areas of pastures, grasslands and arable land reduction. According to Karine Danielyan, President of the “Association for Sustainable Human Development”, if in the past only one out of eight goals had been environmental protection, recently 9 out of 17 of sustainable development goals were environmentally oriented and the rest are ecologically related to this or that.
“This demonstrates how our planet is, and how far the international community is concerned,” she said. Environmentalists are troubled with the fact that there are densely populated areas in all regions of the world and these areas comprise about 40% of the globe. There are about 2 billion people living there. This is one third of the world’s population, who habitat at the lowest environmental, economic and social levels. According to the report by International Organization for Migration (IOM), in 2000, the number of international migrants had been 173 million, in 2010 — 222 million, whereas in 2015 this figure reached 240 million. Migration experts also warn that if this trend continues in the same way, the number of migrants will reach one billion in the next few decades, including so called ecoimmigrants and agromytes.
Let’s remember the fact that in the 1970-80s the UN Desertification Program was also implemented in North Africa and over 10 years more than $ 1 billion spent. Over the years The United Nations had been trying to find out whether the program would have become a reality and it had concluded that the program should have been implemented not only from the ecological point of view, but also, from socio-economic perspective. Thus, if the Armenian authorities do not take adequate measures on the sustainable exploitation of land and water resources, according to prognosis, as a result of desertification in Armenia, soil moisture will decline by 10%, vegetable production — by 10% and pastures by 20%.
Galust Nanyan
“Eco-Media” network coordinator
