AUA ACE Public Lecture Examines Forest Management in Armenia

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YEREVAN–The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment organized a public seminar on Wednesday, March 27, exploring the challenges facing sustainable forest resource management in Armenia.

The topic, titled “Managing and Certifying Forests: New Directions in Resource Stewardship,” was presented by Ms. Ani Haykuni, the forestry service manager at Armenia Tree Project (ATP). During the presentation, Ms. Haykuni, who is a member of a national working group looking into issues around introducing forest certification to Armenia, spoke about the certification process and its use in managing forest resources in other parts of the world.

A market-based solution, forest certification has been in use since the early 1990s. It is a voluntary process that reviews the management of a forest and its resources, especially lumber. If management practices are evaluated to adhere to accepted standards, the forest receives certification and producers and distributors are allowed to place a label stating that their product is coming from a certified forest. In markets where consumers place greater value on environmental-protection, such products are expected to have a competitive edge.

Today, a majority of the certified forests are in North America and Europe. The main organizations offering certification are FSC and PEFC.

“It is essential that we discuss market-based solutions to sustainable forestry,” said Alen Amirkhanian, director of the AUA Acopian Center. “The heated discussion that accompanied Ani’s talk shows that people have widely differing and conflicting views on how to achieve a regulated, more sustainable use of forest resources. But these discussions help shape our views on critical questions and we need to have more of them take place at AUA and elsewhere in the wider environmental-policy community.”

The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment (AUA ACE) is a research center of the American University of Armenia. AUA ACE promotes the protection and restoration of the natural environment through research, education, and community outreach. AUA ACE’s focus areas include sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity and conservation, greening the built environment, clean energy and energy efficiency, as well as information technology and the environment.

The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment (AUA ACE) is a research center of the American University of Armenia. AUA ACe promotes the protection and restoration of the natural environment through research, education, and community outreach. AUA ACE’s focus areas include sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity and conservation, greening the built environment, clean energy and energy efficiency, as well as information technology and the environment.