Illegal tree felling continues in Yerevan, ecologists assert

In the capital of Armenia, within the second half of 2010, 150 trees were cut down. This was reported to journalists by Arthur Aftandilyan, spokesman of the initiative group "We are City Managers".

According to his story, illegal tree felling continues.

"The main problem is liquidation of public areas, when they become - by one stroke of a pen - an individual's property," said the ecologist.

At present, ecologists from the initiative groups continue fighting against the construction conducted in the territory of the Students' Garden opposite the State University, against the construction of a shopping centre in the mini-park in Mashtots Avenue, as well as against construction of the 18-storey residential building in the area of the park named "Dragons' Monument".

Let us note here that in the end of December 2010, the members of the civil initiative "We are City Managers" issued a statement saying that the main achievement of the initiative group was not only salvation of gardens and trees, but also activation of citizens in the fight for nature conservation.

Karine Danielyan, former minister of ecology, now the chair of the association "For Sustainable Human Development", told journalists that during construction in Yerevan not a single environmental law is taken into account.

Earlier, Samvel Danielyan, the chief architect of the city, said that in greenery areas deviations from the building regulations had been admitted, namely, the scale of construction in green areas and coverage of green lawns with concrete exceeded all permissible limits. According to his story, applications on getting land plots to build cafes and kiosks specify quite small areas, but then, in the process of construction builders get beyond the initially provided areas.

According to the Union of Greens of Armenia, since 1990 Yerevan has lost more than 1500 hectares out of 2000 hectares of green area.

According to the studies conducted by the Yerevan Public Ecological Centre, the Centre for Regional Development and the Transparency International with the assistance of the United States' Agency for International Development (USAID), since 1990 the area covered by trees in Yerevan decreased by more than 40 percent, mostly due to construction in city parks and other green areas.

Let us note here that currently the city mayoralty is implementing the programme on greening the city. In particular, the programme assumes allocation of additional 145 hectares for lawns. It is planned to plant 4000 trees. Until 2020, the mayoralty plans to increase the green area by further 1400 hectares.