Roundtable on legislation and institutional changes in nature conservation
On-line roundtable on proposed changes in legislation concerning biodiversity protection in Armenia was organised on November 24, 2021. Total of 30 experts from various scientific institutions, NGOs and the Ministry of Environment discussed changes in legislation as well as in institutional set up for nature conservation. These changes are needed in order to strengthen protection of biodiversity in Armenia and to comply with obligations of CEPA.
Transposition of EU directives on birds and habitats into Armenian legislation was discussed. Leaders of non-governmental organizations and scientific institutions provided valuable feedback to the Ministry during the four-hour debate. The most specific suggestions were the following:
- In order to protect Important Bird Areas and selected Emerald sites, it is efficient to use current protected areas categories, including newly-amended protected landscapes category.
- It is not feasible to protect within protected areas the entire scope of IBAs and all proposed Emerald sites. Some expert-based adjustment is needed (e.g. recent IBAs are very large). Concept of umbrella species should be considered during this adjustment process.
- Law should be amended in order to protect all species of birds also outside of PAs. Also capturing of songbirds should be banned by law.
- Critical habitats (e.g. wetlands) should be protected even outside of protected areas as hot spots for endangered species.
- It is suggested to merge the Law on Flora and Law on Fauna in order to consolidate the legal regulations.
- It is advised to establish a new intermediary agency for nature conservation under the Ministry of Environment. Such a new agency should be responsible for a) managing SNCOs in protected areas – coordinating efforts, setting up management plans, organizing trainings and providing methodologies of work; b) organizing nature protection outside of PAs, including development of endangered species action plans; c) coordinating biodiversity monitoring including connection to global monitoring networks; d) coordinating forests management.
- Human resources of SNCOs in protected areas need to be stabilised, sustainable management (leadership) is the key prerequisite to long-term proper management of protected areas and biodiversity. Fluctuations of staff makes the SNCOs week.
The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, Finnish Environmental Institute SYKE and was co-hosted by the American University of Armenia - Acopian Centre for the Environment.
Representatives of WWF Armenia, Caucasus Nature Fund, Foundation for Protection of Wildlife and Cultural Assets, Yerevan State University, Young Biologists Association, and others participated in the meeting.
