FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On December 31, 2010, Policy Forum Armenia (PFA) issued its Report on “The State of Armenia’s Environment.” The Report provides an overview of environmental challenges facing Armenia and highlights the severity of the current situation. It is intended to serve as a reference to a complex set of environmental problems and issues that are closely intertwined with the country’s development. Corruption and environmental activism are also discussed in some detail in the Report.

The Report argues that improving environmental governance requires increased transparency and public participation in key policy decisions as well as the effective implementation and enforcement of existing environmental laws. The open pit mining operations in Northern Armenia—the Teghut case explored in the Report—is an example of one facility where both urgent policy changes and adequate enforcement of existing policies are needed.

Section I of the Report provides the general motivation behind the study. Section II offers an historical overview of environmental conditions during the Soviet period as well as problems that emerged in the early years of independence and were aggravated by the hardships of the energy crisis. Section III examines a number of current environmental threats facing Armenia. Section IV provides a case study on mining operations with a detailed examination of the controversial mining project in the Teghut forest. Finally, Section V concludes the analysis.

This is the second report in PFA’s State of the Nation series, which aims to provide an assessment of developments of critical importance taking place in Armenia and the Diaspora. The Report is available at www.pf-armenia.org/reports. Neither the authors nor the reviewers of the Report have received any compensation for their contribution.

Policy Forum Armenia is an independent non-profit association aimed at strengthening discourse on Armenia's economic development and national security and through that helping to shape public policy in Armenia.

Policy Forum Armenia (PFA) 1250 I (Eye) Street N.W., Suite 710 Washington, D.C. 20005, USA E-mail: forum@pf-armenia.org Web: http://www.pf-armenia.org/