Category: Environment

Elephants Never Forget | February 03, 2005
The saga of the Yerevan Zoo's new elephant continues. The Born Free Foundation is formally protesting the diplomatic gift of an elephant from India's Prime Minister to the Yerevan Zoo. The elephant is intended as a mate for the...

Before Tsunami, World Aid Helped Armenia | January 20, 2005
In a story by AP on Yahoo!, Steve Gutterman looks back at the 1988 earthquake. Less than two weeks after the quake, Soviet authorities said they had received $100 million in aid from 77 countries. An Armenian official in the...

Energy Crisis | October 16, 2004
Thanks to Onnik for passing this on. It's good to see a first-world newspaper giving voice to this kind of article. Rob Maguire is a student living in Yerevan, and has written about the rise in the price of electricity...

Green lungs | September 05, 2004
Yerevan's remaining green spaces are coming under increasing pressure from development. The latest to pick up on this theme is ArmeniaNow.com. In 1995, Yerevan had 19.6 square meters of green area per capita. Today the number is 5.8. Now, Yerevan...

Building Irregularities | August 17, 2004
Arminfo (Via Groong) reports on 867 illegal constructions projects recorded by the Department for Town Development and Land Control of Yerevan Municipality of Armenia. This is in contrast to just 72 the same time last year. He said that the...

Iran to install wind turbines in Armenia | August 02, 2004
This from the Tehran Times. Iran will install wind turbines in Armenia for the generation of electricity. "Wind farms are usually built on small scale and low capacity. The Armenian wind farm would comprise four units with total capacity of...

Green fury | July 26, 2004
The debate is hotting up about Yerevan's green spaces, and questionable developments going on. Arminfo reports that Armenia's greens demand punishment of officials. At his press conference, the representative of the Social Ecological Party of Armenia Armen Dovlatyan stated that...

Unexploded ordinance | July 18, 2004
HETQ Online reports on the tragedy caused by unexploded ordinance (UXO) in Karabagh. Is there anything you can say to console a father who loses a son ten years after the war? The war that he fought and won? When...

Rural wireless access | July 16, 2004
I came across this article on how wireless internet access has been set up in rural Nepal. The few rural internet access projects, such as the Armenian School Connectivity Program run by Project Harmony might want to look into these...

Armenia invited to build new nuclear plant | July 09, 2004
Interfax has this story about the IAEA inviting Armenia to build a new nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has developed two plans for advancing Armenia's energy sector through 2020, one of which includes building a new nuclear...

Waking up the neighbours | July 05, 2004
This article on HETQ Online shows a common conflict, that of neighbourhood residents and nightclub owners. Residents of a buikding off of Tumanyan Street in central Yerevan have been struggling for months with the noise and disruption cause by what...

The Orchards of Dalma | July 02, 2004
The Greens Union of Armenia are appealing for help to preserve the "Orchards of Dalma", situated in Yerevan. They claim that the government has illegally changed the use of the land so that it can built upon. The US embassy...

Money to burn | June 15, 2004
Interfax reports that the Japanese government will invest $4.5 million in a thermal power plant in Armenia. Interestingly, this will involve the incineration of waste, no doubt using Japanese technology. These power plants are ubiquitous in Japan, dotting the skyline...

New sources of power | June 14, 2004
There are a flurry of stories about the nuclear power issue in Armenia. This follows the stopping of 100 million Euros in aid by the EU on the insistence that Armenia close down Metsamor. ArmeniaNow has an article about the...

Metsamor to go? | June 10, 2004
There's more news about Metsamor (the nuclear power plant that everyone - except Armenia - wants closed down). Prime Minister Markarian said today that Metsamor "will work until alternative sources of energy are found". He was talking about the EU...

Yerevan's quiet spaces | June 08, 2004
A short article from A1 Plus (Via Groong) reports that courtyards behind apartment blocks, so ubiquitous in Yerevan, are to be sold. Apartment blocks' backyards in Yerevan are likely to be sold by auction, Samvel Danelyan, the head of urban...

A nuclear row | June 08, 2004
More fallout (pun not intended) from the argument over Metsamor Nuclear Plant. The Argus, a blog which watches the Caucasus and Central Asia, has this post on the decision by the EU to withold $100 million in grants. Unsurprisingly, the...

Rebuilding Kashatagh | May 27, 2004
Always a source of well-written article, ArmeniaNow this week has a story about Kashatagh.   "Kashatagh is the land of our ancestors," says head of administration of Kashatagh Alexan Hakobian. "Armenians living here began thinning out 100 years ago. As...

WWF to the rescue | May 26, 2004
The WWF Caucasus Programme has announced an $8.5 million grant to help protect endangered species in the Caucasus. The forests, high mountain ecosystems and arid landscapes of the Caucasus contain more than twice the animal diversity found in adjacent regions...

Lethal Toys | May 25, 2004
HETQ Online has another photo story, this time about unexploded ordinance and mines left over from from Karabagh conflict. Onnik Krikorian, a British-born photojournalist, similarly has this series of photos on the same website, about mine clearance in Karabagh....

A bid to preserve Yerevan's green spaces | May 20, 2004
This Saturday will see a protest, not political this time, but environmental, against further construction in the remaining green spaces of Zeytun district, according to A1 Plus. Coalition for Preservation of Green Plantations and the Armenian Environmental Union will be...

Cafes galore | May 14, 2004
HETQ Online has a very interesting article on the cafes of central Yerevan. The cafes that crowd out the green areas. "Our association conducted an unofficial survey of the businessmen who build cafes and restaurants in the green areas," says...

Armenia Tree Project Celebrates Earth Day | April 21, 2004

Preservation of Ancient Monuments | April 11, 2004
The following article talks about money allotted to restoration of Vorotnavank on the banks of the Vorotan river in Syunik, amongst others. I went there last October, and was shown around by a man from the local village. He showed...

Karabakh mine clearance | April 08, 2004
Azat Artsakh has this story about the mine clearance effort being undertaken by the HALO trust. Read the full text....

Summer Volunteering | April 07, 2004
The Land and Culture Organization is recruiting volunteers for its 2004 summer campaigns. The deadline is May 21st, and this year they have programs at Dprevank, Vardenis and Shoushi Hospital. For over 27 years the LCO has organized summer programs...