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forest management and land use, and poor
agricultural practices accompanied by a hotter and
drier climate are also resulting in the depletion
of carbon sinks and storage. In response, the
Government of Armenia adopted the decree “On
approval of land monitoring procedure”
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which
requires state monitoring procedures to define the
organic carbon content of 15 important indicators
of soil and soil-layer protection. The Clima East
Pilot Project entitled “Sustainable management
of pastures and forest in Armenia to demonstrate
climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits
and dividends for local communities” supported by
the European Union and UNDP is one of the tools to
support the implementation and enforcement of the
decree. The project aims to demonstrate sustainable
natural resource management in degraded mountain
pastures and forests of Armenia. In addition it aims
to increase the capacity of ecosystems to sequester
carbon under a changing climate while at the same
time retaining biodiversity and economic values.
The project will introduce a pasture management
system, including rehabilitation of 2,000 ha of
meadows and forest belts (60 ha), in the selected
region. The project will help prevent further
deterioration of natural resources (biodiversity, land,
water, forest), promote better understanding of the
impacts of climate change, and the potential for
adaptive management, including the enhancement
of local capacity for sustaining livelihoods in the face
of climate change. A replication strategy will support
the extension of the project experience and best
practices to other regions of the country.
The project implementation period is 2013–2016. To
date, it has led to the creation of conceptual designs for
The mountain, forest, and rangeland ecosystems are
an important asset for the population of Armenia.
50 per cent of this population lives in rural communities
and so are particularly dependent upon the ecosystem
goods and services they provide. However, the high
level of rural poverty, poor economic conditions, and a
decline in infrastructure, along with weak institutional
and management capacities in governing structures
has resulted in many negative impacts on these vital
ecosystems. These include the loss of vulnerable
habitats and species, reduction of ecological functions,
and the growing threats to ecosystem services, as well as
a decrease in carbon storage in the soil and vegetation.
The current status of natural rangelands (pastures and
meadows), which cover approximately 1,244 thousand
ha of the country, is extremely unsatisfactory. Almost
half of the pastures are exposed to degradation, and
their biological productivity has decreased 1.5–2
times since the 1950s (UNDP 2013b). Forest-covered
land is also increasingly scarce, now accounting for
only 350 thousand ha (MoNP 2015). The continued
degradation of forests has led to a reduction in the
integrity and resilience of forest ecosystems.
The declines in these ecosystems are due to both
anthropogenic and natural causes. Unsustainable
Better management of pastures and forests in Armenia
CASE STUDY
Pastural landscape, Armenia