While the importance of the biological resources of Armenia
is clearly recognised, equally obvious are the threats to
these resources. A variety of anthropogenic effects now
threaten the plants, animals and ecosystems of Armenia,
and increased population pressure is further increasing
these impacts on biodiversity. Historically, low human population
densities and regulated use of natural resources protected
the balance of ecosystems. However, over the last 1000 years
human impacts on the land have increased, mainly through
deforestation and increased use of pastures. Such problems
have intensified over recent years with unprecedented population
growth and urbanization since 1920 (Table 6.1, 6.2). The
rate of habitat modernization parallels those in Western
countries, and exceeds those in the neighbouring countries
(Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Azerbaijan). Even the important
mountain areas of Armenia are suffering increased anthropogenic
pressures.
Table 6.1 Increases in population
and human impacts between 1920 and 1990.
|
Parameter
|
Factor of increase
|
|
Population
|
5-fold
|
|
Urban population
|
26-fold
|
|
Urban spread
|
14-fold
|
|
Industrial districts and centres
|
30-fold
|
|
Irrigated land area
|
3-fold
|
|
Cultivated land area
|
1.5-fold
|
|
Areas under construction (buildings,
roads, streets, etc)
|
20-fold
|
Table 6.2. Some parameters of current
population and human pressures in Armenia
|
Parameter
|
Total
|
Density (average)
|
|
Population
|
3.8 million
|
232 persons/km2
|
|
Populated areas
|
980 settlements
|
6 settlements/10km2
|
|
Road (rail and car) network
|
14 thousand km
|
0.85km/km2
|
The biological resources of Armenia have undergone permanent
change as a result of both internal and external factors. The
most important threats to Armenian biodiversity include habitat
loss and direct destruction of species, which have resulted
in population declines in a number of plants and animals.
Anthropogenic impacts have affected a large proportion of Armenia,
and have led to damage and destruction to natural habitats.
Agricultural intensification has resulted in the loss of natural
grasslands, and particularly of wetlands; over the last 50 years
around 20,000 ha of marsh and wetland has been drained and converted
to agricultural use. The effects of habitat loss or modification
are also evident at a local scale, and a number of species (including
plants and animals) have been affected by activities such as
local deforestation, construction and road building. For example
a small area of high floristic diversity close to Zvartnots
temple has been destroyed following construction and industrial
use close to the site, while around 180 species of desert plants
that once occurred at a site near Goravan have now disappeared.
Habitat loss poses a particular threat to restricted range species,
and those of semi-desert and mountain steppe habitat, many of
which occur at the edge of their geographical range in Armenia.
Changes in community composition, including decreasing species
richness, are recorded in these habitats. The conversion of
steppes and semi-deserts for agriculture over the last 50 years
have also had important impacts on bird communities, with the
disappearance of their natural habitats. Many bird species associated
with such habitats are now listed as threatened in Armenia.
There are also recorded population declines in reptiles from
semi-desert areas, including the spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo
graeca), toadhead agama (Phrynocephalis persicus), golden grass
mabuya (Mabuya aurata), Caucasian sand boa (Eryx jaculus), Montpellier
snake (Malpolon monspessulanus), racerunners (Eremias pleskei
and Eremias strauchi), and the snake-eyed lizard (Ophisops elegans)
from the Arax Valley. In addition, an important population of
the regionally endemic sub-species of racerunner (Eremias arguta
transcaucasica) has nearly disappeared from the Sevan basin
as a result of agricultural land use, and only 100 individuals
now remain within a single site. Similar declines are noted
in the dwarf lizard Lacerta parva, another endemic which is
now restricted to an area of 5km2 near Spitak.
The decline in the level of Lake Sevan had significant impacts
on a number of wetland habitats in the vicinity, which dried
out. As a result a number of marshland species (including lizards,
waders and mammals) have disappeared from that area. Other water
bodies have also suffered anthopogenic impacts. The diversion
of water from the Noravank gorge to provide a water supply to
a nearby village resulted in the loss of habitat and eventual
disappearance of the wildlife of the gorge, including invertebrates,
amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, as well as the destruction
of an area of natural beauty.
Forests, like other habitats, represent a dynamic system, and
forest cover in Armenia has undergone significant changes since
ancient times, in both species composition and structure. However,
the impact of man of the forests of the country is obvious.
Archaeological data indicates that around 40% of the land was
originally covered in trees, at altitude zones of 500-2000m
(Map 13). Since then forest cover has been affected by both
changes in climate and by anthropogenic impacts. Increased temperatures
resulted in a shift in the altitude zones at which forests were
found, with the upper tree line increasing as far as 2200m altitude
in the north and 2600m in the south. However, anthropogenic
impacts have had more extreme effects on forest habitats, which
now represent only 10% of the land surface (a quarter of the
previous forest cover; Map 13), and are concentrated in the
north-east of the country. A number of regions in Armenia are
today totally deforested (Shirak, Armavir and Ararat), while
others show very restricted tree cover (<1%; Vaik, Kotaik,
and Gegharcunik).
A range of factors have increased pressures on forest resources,
including a series of conflicts in the region which resulted
in mass migrations of rural populations, and increased pressure
on land for grazing and agriculture. Two major periods of timber
extraction have occurred during this century. Between the 1930s
and 1950s, around 450,000m3 of wood was extracted annually from
Armenian forests for industrial use. Although this extraction
was supposed to occur through selective logging of post-mature
and damaged trees, forest resources were decimated at this time,
and most of the mature trees were removed (which accounts for
the current lack of mature and post-mature forests stands in
Armenia).
Extensive deforestation also took place between 1992-1995, during
the period of economic blockade and energy crisis. A combination
of poor forest management and illegal felling resulting in damage
to around 27,000 ha of forest (more than 8% of the total forest
area), and, of this area, around 7000 ha was totally cleared.
The effects of the damage to forests are clear in changes in
species composition and in the loss of forests on lower slopes.
The effects of the energy crisis on forests were particularly
severe in the vicinity of urban areas (such as the hills around
Yerevan) where pressure for fuelwood resulted in clearance of
such woodland, resulting both habitat loss, and increased erosion
of soils on hillsides.
Extensive grazing of cattle and pigs in forest habitats in recent
years has further contributed to degradation of forests, particularly
through its effects on regeneration and understory vegetation. |
