Armenia - Overview

Status and Trends of Biodiversity

Overview

Armenia is a generally mountainous country, with an average altitude of 1,850 m and over 90% of the land lying above 1000m. This has created a series of highly diverse landscapes going from deserts to Alpine meadow, with mountains steppes and forest (NBSAP). Armenia’s biodiversity is extremely rich in economically valuable species... More »

Number and Extent of Protected Areas

10% of the country area, representing at least 60% of the flora and fauna species, is currently protected. There are 3 State Reserves, 23 State Reservations, 2 National Parks and an unknown number of Natural Monuments as they are not officially surveyed and registered.

Percentage of Forest Cover

Of the original forest cover, which was probably around 40% of the country, there is now less than a quarter left. It is estimated that forests now cover less than 10% of the country.

National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan

Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

The national strategy has 13 main objectives pertaining to increased investments in research, technologies and conservation, increased conservation, regeneration and sustainable use of ecosystems, the development and improvement of mechanisms, management systems and legislation, increased outreach activities, and poverty reduction... More »

Implementation of the Convention

Measures Taken to Achieve the 2010 Target

National targets for the conservation of the biological diversity have been integrated into sectoral strategies for inland water, mountains and forests. One major achievement has been to increase water levels in Lake Sevan, one of the largest high altitude lakes in the world and Armenia’s most endangered ecosystem, by 174cm between 2003 and 2005... More »

Initiatives in Protected Areas

Armenia has a National Strategy and Action Plan for Development of Nature Protected Areas defining target objectives, indicators and the implementation timeline. The Ministry of Nature Protection is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the protected areas management. Financial investments in protected areas have increased by 3... More »

Initiatives for Article 8(j)

In Armenia, there is almost a complete absence of isolated communities possessing traditional knowledge. Due to the small size of the country, the traditional knowledge does not generally belong to separate local communities but is the property of the people as a whole. Nevertheless, Armenia has signed the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters in 2001... More »

National Contacts

Full details of national contacts »

Convention on Biological Diversity

Head of Division Ministry of Nature Protection	CBD Primary NFP, ICNP ABS NFP (ONLY)
Dr. Aram Gevorgyan	CHM NFP

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Prof. Artashes Ziroyan

Cartagena Protocol Primary NFP, BCH NFP