Environmentalist warns of mounting threats to protected areas amid Amulsar dispute

Armenia’s network of specially protected natural areas is under mounting pressure from mining and construction, with international watchdogs issuing sharp criticism over biodiversity risks linked to the controversial Amulsar gold project, an environmental lawyer has said.

Nazeli Vardanyan, president of the Forests of Armenia NGO, told Panorama.am on Saturday that the Bern Convention Secretariat — Europe’s treaty body on wildlife and natural habitats — has delivered a “very strict” decision censuring Armenia for failing to safeguard endangered species in Amulsar. The mine, she noted, threatens the extinction of the apricot-colored Matnuni plant, a species found nowhere else in the world.

“Once it disappears here, it will vanish globally,” Vardanyan said, adding that the government’s plan to relocate the species is scientifically untenable. She stressed that the Bern Convention had already granted Armenia time to remedy violations last year, but the latest ruling underscores continued non-compliance.

Armenia currently designates 386,355 hectares — 13.1% of its territory — as protected, including three state reserves, four national parks, 27 sanctuaries and 233 natural monuments. Yet Vardanyan argued that legal protections are routinely undermined. She cited the Shikahogh Reserve, partly occupied by Azerbaijani forces, where logging and road construction persist despite strict conservation rules. In Jermuk, she said, mining operations have encroached on sanctuary zones, while many monuments lack signage or clear boundaries, leaving local communities unaware of their protected status.

Commercial activity has also marred iconic sites. At Jermuk’s “Arch of Dreams,” privatized land adjacent to the monument has been used for construction, obscuring the landscape. In Syunik, the Shaki waterfall’s flow is diverted by a hydroelectric plant, forcing tourists to pay for temporary water releases. “It is like turning a natural monument into a faucet,” Vardanyan remarked.

She accused the government of tailoring environmental legislation, including amendments to Armenia’s Environmental Impact Assessment Law, to favor mining interests at the expense of conservation. “Decisions have not been in favor of protected areas. Environmental protection has been sidelined,” she said.

Vardanyan emphasized Armenia’s responsibility to preserve biodiversity for future generations, particularly species listed in the national Red Book. “Economic activity is being carried out at the expense of nature,” she warned, urging the authorities to reverse damaging policies and reclaim privatized lands near monuments.

The Bern Convention ruling is expected to be discussed at an upcoming conference of experts, where Armenian NGOs plan to highlight systemic failures in conservation governance.