AUA PONTOS Team Meets with RA Government

2 min read

YEREVAN, Armenia — On June 16, the American University of Armenia (AUA) Acopian Center for the Environment (ACE) and European Union (EU)-funded PONTOS project team hosted a meeting with the “Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center” (HMC) State Non-Commercial Organization of the Ministry of Environment of Armenia. The aim of the meeting was to present the PONTOS project and PONTOS platform with its applications, as well as the other activities of the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment. 

ACE Director Alen Amirkhanian opened the meeting with a brief overview of the Center’s activities, function areas, and current projects, including PONTOS. 

Aghavni Harutyunyan, PONTOS project manager, then presented the scope of the PONTOS project and the types of services being developed within the PONTOS platform, including the PONTOS Data Cube, PONTOS web application, and PONTOS WebGIS. Potential use, potential users, and target groups were presented for each of the services. The meeting continued with a discussion of the recommendations and feedback on the platform and its potential use by the HMC. “The Monitoring Center values partnerships with academic and research institutions, projects like PONTOS are of high importance for us and we would be happy to collaborate within the project and beyond,” highlighted Levon Azizyan.

To further promote communication and collaboration, possible avenues for cooperation were also discussed, including the scope for signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations.

Photo credit: Aghavni Harutyunyan presenting the PONTOS project and PONTOS platform

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