|
11. What is the relative
priority afforded to implementation of this Article
and the associated decisions by your country?
|
|
a) High |
|
b) Medium |
+
|
c) Low |
|
12. To what extent are the
resources available adequate for meeting the obligations
and recommendations made?
|
| a)
Good |
|
b)
Adequate |
|
c)
Limiting |
+
|
|
|
Further comments on relative
priority and on availability of resources
|
11. Armenia's major
goals for international environmental co-operation are
determined by its geopolitical location, the priority
of environmental problems, and the need to co-ordinate
efforts with other countries in solving environmental
issues. On the basis of these principles Armenia participates
in global environmental processes and has signed a number
of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). At
the same time attention is paid to regional co-operation,
with an emphasis on co-operation with countries in a
similar economic situation with comparable environmental
problems. National environmental policy takes international
environmental policy into account.
A programme for the implementation of the UNECE Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, the UNECE
Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary
Context, the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity
for the period from 1998 to 2002 was adopted by Decree
No.115 of February 1998. In addition, Decree No.620
of 1998 lays down an implementation plan for the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. However,
in some cases, the obligations of MEAs have not been
incorporated into domestic policies, laws and regulations.
Armenia co-operates with many international organisations
and funding institutions, including UNECE, UNEP, UNDP,
OECD, TACIS, FAO, the World Bank, as well as with national
governments. Armenia's application to join the WTO is
at an advanced stage, and it has also applied for membership
of the Council of Europe, but there are still some underlying
political problems that might hamper its joining.
|
|
13. Is your country actively
cooperating with other Parties in respect of areas
beyond national jurisdiction for the conservation
and sustainable use of biological diversity?
|
| a) bilateral cooperation
(please give details below) |
+
|
| b) international programmes
(please give details below) |
+
|
| c) international agreements
(please give details below) |
+
|
Decision
IV/4. Status and trends of the biological diversity of inland
water ecosystems and options for conservation and sustainable
use
|
14. Has your country developed
effective cooperation for the sustainable management
of transboundary watersheds, catchments, river basins
and migratory species through bilateral and multilateral
agreements?
|
| a) no |
|
| b) yes - limited
extent (please give details below) |
+
|
| c) yes - significant
extent (please give details below) |
|
|
d) not applicable |
|
Decision IV/15. The
relationship of the CBD with the CSD and biodiversity-related
conventions, other international agreements, institutions
and processes or relevance
|
15. Has your country developed
management practices for transboundary protected areas?
|
| a) no |
|
| b) yes - limited extent (please
give details below) |
+
|
| c) yes - significant extent
(please give details below) |
|
| d) not relevant |
|
Decision
V/21. Co-operation with other bodies
|
16. Has your country collaborated
with the International Biodiversity Observation Year
of DIVERSITAS, and ensured complementarity with the
initiative foreseen to be undertaken by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity to increase scientific knowledge and public
awareness of the crucial role of biodiversity for
sustainable development?
|
| a) no |
+
|
| b) to a limited extent |
|
| c) to a significant extent
|
|
Decision
V/27. Contribution of the Convention on Biological Diversity
to the ten-year review of progress achieved since the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development
|
17. Is your country planning
to highlight and emphasize biological diversity considerations
in its contribution to the ten-year review of progress
since the Earth Summit?
|
| a) no |
+
|
| b) yes |
|
Further
comments on implementation of this Article
|
13 a) Bilateral co-operation.
During the years 2000-2001 Armenia conducted bilateral
negotiations with a number of countries on collaborative
agreements in the field of environmental protection
and biodiversity conservation. In particular, agreements
between the Governments of the Russian Federation
and Armenia and between the Islamic Republic of Iran
and Armenia have reached the stage of signing. In
these agreements the conservation of rare and endangered
species of flora and fauna is a priority.
|
|
13 b) International programmes.
|
| Project title |
Budget |
Duration |
Donor organisation |
| National Environmental Action Plan
|
$200,000 |
1996-1998 |
World Bank |
| Lake Sevan Environmental Action
Plan |
$485,000 |
1996-1998 |
World Bank |
| Forestry Sector Development Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan to CBD |
$380,000 |
1994-1997 |
GEF |
|
|
Preparation of the Full Project
for the
in-situ Conservation and Sustainable Use of agrobiodiversity
in Armenia
|
$97,000 |
1998-1999 |
GEF |
Inventory of Armenian Ramsar Sites:
ways for restoration of lost and
rehabilitation of endangered waterfowl habitats
|
$23,000 |
1998-1999 |
Ramsar Smail Grants Fund |
| Armenian Forest Resources Assessment |
$200,000 |
1998-1999 |
SIDA |
| National Action Programme to Combat
Desertification in Armenia |
$40,000 |
1999-2000 |
UNEP |
Analysis of the present condition
and development of priority activities on biodiversity
conservation and rational use in Caucasus
|
$12,000 |
2000-2001 |
McArthur Foundation |
| Restoration of Gilly Lake |
$20,000 |
Since 2000 |
GEF |
| Management of Natural Resources
and Poverty Reduction in Armenia |
$15,000,000 |
Since 2000 |
Several donors |
|
13 c) International agreements.
Armenia is a signatory of several Conventions directly
or indirectly related to the problems of biodiversity
conservation:
|
- Armenia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity
in 1993. A Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP)
and the First National Report to the Conference of the
Parties to the Convention were prepared in 1999. The
Government has approved a schedule of measures to implement
the Convention. The BSAP will be the basis for national
biodiversity policy and will be adopted by the Government.
It aims at ensuring the conservation, sustainable use
and regeneration of Armenia's landscape and biological
diversity. It includes a budget for its implementation,
identifying what can be funded in Armenia and what needs
international funding, indicating possible sources of
finance.
- Armenia became a Party to the
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention)
in 1993. Two sites were designated for the List of
Wetlands of International Importance: Lake Sevan and
its basin (489,100ha) and Lake Apri and its bogs (3,139ha).
Lake Sevan is one of the world's largest alpine lakes
and it and the surrounding basin are significant resting
and wintering areas for migratory waterfowl.
- Armenia ratified the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1997.
A National Action Programme addressing control of
land distribution, re-cultivation of eroded land,
reclamation of salinized lands and restoration of
their natural productivity is being prepared. Armenia
has received US$32,000 from the Convention's secretariat
for this purpose. Armenia participated in a regional
project with Georgia and Azerbaijan "Arid and
Semi-Arid Eco-system Conservation in the Caucasus"
(see this questionnaire, question 374).
- Armenia ratified the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in
1993. A national implementation strategy and the first
national communication were prepared in 1998 as part
of the project "Armenia - Country Study on Climate
Change". The communication contains a specific
activity related to biodiversity, which is formulated
as "An assessment of vulnerability and adaptation
measures for natural ecosystems, water resources,
agriculture and health issues related to climate change".
- Armenia ratified the UN Convention
on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary
Context in 1997, making it the only country in the
Trans-Caucasian region to accede to it. This restricts
the application of its provisions in the region.
- Armenia participated in the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in 1992. There have been no specific initiatives
to implement Agenda 21 in Armenia. However, a process
to develop a National Environmental Action Plan was
initiated in 1996 and finished in 1998. It included
two chapters related to biodiversity: "Forest
conservation" and "Biodiversity conservation".
- Armenia has been actively involved in the "Environment
for Europe" process since the second ministerial
meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland. Participation in
the process fits well with Armenia's goal to move
closer towards the EU, and is thus considered important.
Armenia is trying to implement the decisions taken
within the framework of the process. It supports the
establishment of a regional environmental centre (REC)
in Georgia for the Caucasian region, and an agreement
on the regional REC was signed between Georgia, Armenia
and Azerbaijan in the autumn of 1999. A national report
in the framework of "Europe's Environment: the
Second Assessment" (Dobris +3) was prepared with
financial support from EU/TACIS.
|
Armenia has adopted the Pan-European
Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy. Within
the framework of this strategy, Armenia participates
in the development of documents on global environmental
networks, the clearing-house mechanism, the global taxonomic
initiative, integrating biological and landscape diversity
objectives into sectoral policies, as well as in the
decision-making processes on the proposed documents.
- In the Framework of Pan-European Strategy of Biological
and Landscape Diversity there is a Programme Element
"Establishment of potential for conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity in Central and East
Europe (CEE) and Newly Independent States (NIS)",
which contains a separate action "Development of
regional co-operation (Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan)
aimed at better management and sustainable use of biodiversity
in transboundary territories" (included in the
Strategy during the conference "Biodiversity in
Europe" in March, 2000). For this purpose, a regional
seminar will be organised in Armenia in June, 2001 (see
Article 18, questions 254-255).
- Armenia has participated in the meetings of the Black
Sea Economic Co-operation Forum since 1992. Armenia
is particularly interested in projects with a wide scope
such as: environmental education, tourism, harmonisation
of monitoring and information systems, managing mountain
ecosystems, cleaner production, etc.
- In 1992 Armenia signed the Agreement on Co-operation
in the Field of Ecology and Nature Protection, which
is being coordinated by the Interstate Ecological Council
for the CIS Region. Armenia participates in all activities
undertaken in the framework of this Agreement, including
various working groups and sub-agreements.
- Armenia has signed the following agreements within
the CIS region: (a) "Agreement on co-operation
in the field of ecology and environment protection"
(1992); (b) "Agreement on co-operation in the field
of information exchange for ecology and environment
protection" (1998); (c) "Agreement on co-operation
in the field of forestry and forest industry" (1998);
and (d) "Agreement on co-operation in the field
of ecological monitoring" (1999).
14. Armenia is not a Party to the 1992 Convention on
the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses
and International Lakes. All Armenia's rivers flow out
of the country because it is higher than its neighbours.
Therefore it exports more water pollution than it imports.
Because of this and related concerns about the polluter-pays-principle
embodied in the Convention, preparations for its ratification
are still problematic. None of Armenia's neighbours
has ratified the Convention yet. Armenia nevertheless
participated in the negotiations on the Protocol on
Water and Health, which it signed in June 1999.
Armenia's rivers are tributaries of the two major transboundary
rivers: the Kur (a basin of 700 square km) and the Araks
(22,790 square km basin). There are no common management
systems or environmental agreements concerning these
rivers. Negotiations have started with Azerbaijan and
Georgia on a joint project to clean up point sources
of pollution, but they have not been completed. Armenia
has an agreement with Turkey, dividing the use of the
transboundary Araks and Akhourian rivers in equal proportions
(1,230 million m3 per year each), but Armenia has not
been using its full share, and disputes between the
two countries have occurred over their entitlements.
A number of Armenian NGOs are carrying out several small
projects on transboundary migrating species, such as
"Vertebrate Animals Biodiversity Conservation in
Transboundary Regions of Transcaucasus", a project
implemented with the support of NACRES and ensuring
participation of both Armenian and Georgian stakeholders.
There are a number of projects at the project development
stage on the management of water ecosystems of the neighbouring
countries of Southern Caucasus, financed by USAID and
TACIS (see question 309).
15. The management methods have not been developed,
but various project proposals on transboundary protection
area conservation and management have been endorsed
as priorities within the regional project "Analysis
of the present condition and development of priority
activities on biodiversity conservation and rational
use in the Caucasus".
|
|
