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not be seen as a weakness, especially in terms
of adaptation, as with proper planning and
implementation, existing climate change adaptation
challenges can be addressed by national adaptation
plans/strategies and/or by the mainstreaming
of climate change adaptation into sectoral and
development policies. Therefore, the development
of specific laws (i.e. “superior” legal acts) may not be
necessary to address this issue.
However, to strengthen the focus on vulnerability and
to bring climate adaptation to greater prominence on
the political agenda it would be beneficial to integrate
certain principles and climate change priorities into
the existing sectoral laws, such as those on water,
biodiversity, soil protection, renewable energy,
forestry, etc.
Armenia
The main environmental laws of Armenia are the
Laws on Nature Protection and Nature Utilization
Payments and the Law on Atmospheric Air
Protection (Ecolex 1994). The recent amendment
to the Law on Atmospheric Air Protection prohibits
burning of vegetable residues in areas with dry
vegetation, including pastures and grasslands,
as well as in agricultural, forested, and protected
areas. While initially aimed at restoring and storing
organic carbon in soil and ground vegetation, the
amendment, among others, provides regulations
to protect the soil and soil layer from erosion and
Meadow outside Stepanavan, Armenia