Armenian expert warns of Azerbaijani encroachment on protected areas ahead of biodiversity summit

Armenia’s former deputy environment minister Ayser Ghazaryan has accused the government of avoiding discussion of Azerbaijani military encroachment on key protected areas, warning that large sections of the country’s biodiversity reserves are under threat.

Speaking to Panorama.am ahead of the upcoming UN biodiversity conference (COP17), Ghazaryan said that despite Armenia’s ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, “no substantive progress has been achieved.” He criticized recent amendments to Armenia’s law on specially protected areas, arguing that they fail to align with international biodiversity frameworks.

Ghazaryan highlighted the situation in the Shikahogh Reserve, where he claimed Azerbaijani defense units have seized significant forest ecosystems and carried out logging. “Approximately 3,000 hectares are occupied, with thousands more either in contested zones or under direct enemy observation,” he said, adding that the reserve’s strict conservation regime has effectively collapsed.

He also pointed to the Black Lake (Sev Lich) area and migration corridors along the Areghuni mountain range, noting that critical wildlife movement routes are either occupied or disrupted. “These ecosystems are endangered, yet the authorities remain reluctant to raise the issue internationally,” Ghazaryan said.

The expert urged the government to use COP17 as a platform to press for international intervention. “This is the only viable mechanism to liberate these territories and safeguard Armenia’s biodiversity,” he stated, accusing officials of being “fearful” and unwilling to speak up.

The Armenian Environment Ministry has suggested that border delimitation could resolve disputes over Shikahogh, but Ghazaryan dismissed it as “absurd”, insisting that the reserve’s borders are clearly defined by watershed ridges. “To claim these are disputed is to mislead the public,” he said.