by Arpi Harutyunyan17 June 2008

Armenian groups trying to protect the Teghut forest confront a familiar obstacle: the government.

YEREVAN Earth-movers are already clearing swaths of trees in one of Armenia’s most pristine regions, but that has not stopped environmental pressure groups from lobbying the National Assembly to scrap a mining concession in the Teghut forest.“We will be gathering here until the government deems the decision on Teghut [mine] exploitation nullified,” one protester said during a recent demonstration at the parliament, amid shouts of “Keep Your Hands off Teghut,” “Green and Clean Armenia,” and “Healthy Generation.”“We want to personally meet the prime minister and prevent the exploitation at any expense, because it may otherwise destroy one of the unique forests of Armenia and also threaten the health of the future generations,” said Sona Ayvazyan, a member of the Teghut Defense Initiative and country director for Transparency International.
Many rural villages, like this one near Vanadzor in Armenia’s Lori region, struggle economically. But some residents fear mining operations at Teghut will bring more problems than opportunity. Photo by Timothy SpenceIt is a familiar fight for conservationists in Armenia, where mining for copper, molybdenum, and other metals has enjoyed resurgence after production slumped in the years following independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The industry provides badly needed jobs and export revenue but worsens the deforestation from illegal logging and poor land-use practices. Armenian Forests, a conservation group that works to restore threatened woodlands, estimates that the amount of forested land in the country has fallen from 25 percent to 8 percent in the last century.In November the National Assembly approved a 25-year license to operate an open-pit copper and molybdenum mine in Teghut, located in the country’s Lori province 190 kilometers north of the capital, Yerevan.Teghut is being developed by the Armenian Copper Program, a Yerevan-registered company backed by investors in Liechtenstein and Russia. The mine has the support of senior government leaders, including the president, who see the thousands of jobs expected to be created as vital to helping the economically blighted region for decades to come.Mining opponents have urged Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan to stop the logging and clearing of 357 hectares of forest in the ruggedly picturesque Lori region and to review the governmental approval, as well as develop a long-term strategy for sustainable development of the country’s considerable metal and mineral resources. Clearing at Teghut began earlier this year.Conservation groups are becoming more assertive in their activism. In early June, some 50 people from Teghut and neighboring Shnogh village went to Yerevan to demand an end to the clearing. Besides protests at the National Assembly, on 9 May, the Teghut Defense Initiative organized a bicycle marathon to Teghut, distributing leaflets urging that the area be protected from exploitation. A rock concert was organized in the northern town of Vanadzor in support of the Teghut forest.BOUNTIFUL REGIONThe Lori region is a striking contrast to hot, dusty, and crowded Yerevan, home to one-third of Armenia’s 3 million people. The region is blessed with abundant plant life, verdant forests, and fresh air. Birds, animals, and fish flourish. The hills and mountains of the southern Caucasus landscape are bathed in fresh green in the spring and brilliant color in the autumn.ACP will clear 357 hectares of forest to get to the copper and molybdenum buried beneath Teghut. That translates into about 57,700 cubic meters of timber.Company representatives say the work will comply with national environmental laws, including one that requires massive replanting of the forest.

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