Environmental protest action in Yerevan. Present were... president, prime minister, parliament speaker. Well, kind of :)

*via A1+

Revealed: "The Nature Minister’s Private House on the Shores of Sevan"

A few months ago, when the Armenian government was debating the permissible amounts of water that could be drawn from Lake Sevan, the press was full of reports that the agreed upon 360 million cubic meters of water to be extracted wasn’t needed for agricultural irrigation usage but rather to save the numerous property sites of government officials from the rising lake’s waters.

At the time, government officials and National Assembly Deputies labeled such allegations as ridiculous and without merit.

The private house pictured here on the shore of Lake Sevan, with its numerous annexes, belongs to Aram Harutyunyan, the Minister of Nature Protection. (The photo depicts only a portion of the private compound). Construction on the house began this year and renovation work is still continuing. The house is located on the road that leads from the village of Shorzha to the Artanish Nature Preserve, a few meters removed from the shoreline. Sources close to “Hetq” claim that one year ago the house site was a part of the Artanish Preserve lands and that it was detached from the Preserve’s boundaries after a decision passed by the government.

*Hetq Online

Bird hunting at the Sevan National Reserve in Armenia

*via Hetq Online

Lake Sevan: Armenian government gave in to oligarchs

There were times when Armenian environmentalists trying hard to find ways to increase shrinking water level of Lake Sevan. I remember even the slightest increase in the water level made into the headlines of the main news programme on Armenian TV. This was considered a sign that Armenian ecologists and other specialists along with the government were on the right path and doing whatever possible to reach the aim and preserve the lake which is among favourite holiday destinations in Armenia. There were times…

Now it’s all about business interests. Apparently, recent raise in the water level of Lake Sevan ‘threatens’ coastal buildings which belong to various Armenian oligarchs. Solution? Armenian government decided to increase water supply from Lake Sevan “for agricultural irrigation and other purposes”, an argument which is dismissed by environmental specialists.

"Despite the dry weather during the growing season, we get information about the extremely high yield" - says Karine Danielyan, well known environmentalist, representative of the National Committee of UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme). "If water needed for irrigation, why it is needed more in August than during the harvest season? One of the answers to the question could be that raising the water level is not desirable for owners of coastal buildings and so-called recreation zones, number of which is constantly growing."

Tomorrow Armenian parliament intends to discuss and approve government’s decision. Environmentalists are calling for a protest demonstration in front of the parliament on 19 August, 11.30 - SOS Sevan!