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Armenia is a lightly forested country with rich biodiversity

According to the last forest inventory of 1993, forest land makes up 459,900 ha, of which over 73 per cent or 334,100 ha is covered with forest. Overall, the inventory showed forest coverage of 11.2 percent for the country. However, the inventory was done before the economic turmoil of the 1990s and there have been notable changes in the forest cover since then. International organisations have made more recent estimates of the forest cover in the country and they have given much lower estimates – approximately 7–8 per cent.

Today 62 per cent of the forest cover is found in the northeast (Tavush, Lori provinces), 36 per cent in the southeast (Syunik, Vayoc Dzor province), and only 2 per cent in the central region of the country (Aragatcotn, Gegharkunik provinces).

Armenia is described as having six distinct landscape zones: desert, semi-desert, steppe, forest, subalpine, and alpine regions. Armenia is located at the junction of the biogeographic zones of the Lesser Caucasus and the Iranian and Mediterranean zones, and exhibits both a great range of altitudinal variation (from 375 m to the 4,095 m peak of Mt. Aragats) and a diversity of climatic zones. Together this has resulted in a diversity of landscapes and ecological communities with a distinct flora and fauna, including many regionally endemic, relict and rare species. While encompassing only five percent of the Caucasus area, Armenia incorporates nearly every type of vegetation ecosystem found in the southern Caucasus, reflecting the
great altitudinal variation and consequent

contrast of distinct ecosystems within limited areas.

The forest lands of Armenia are characterized by rich natural resources and biodiversity. In these lands 274 types of native trees and shrubs can be found, of which 25 are endemic and 31 relict species. The main forest-bearing species are beech, oak, eastern hornbeam and pine.

Nazeli Vardanyan

https://www.airclim.org/northern-forests-and-climate-change

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Armenia is a lightly forested country with rich biodiversity

In this issue

Countries are not on track to achieve the 1.5°C target

Editorial: Canada not happy with EU Deforestation Regulation

Five key global 2030 targets aligned with 1.5°C

Crowdfunding and energy communities take centre stage

Green governance innovation curbs climate impact from public canteens

Car-free city improves health

Ban fossil industry funding in medical research

India reaches record levels of dirty air … again

Targeting two pollutants at a single stroke

2023 from the corals’ perspective: heatwaves and backlashes

Action to triple renewable power and double energy efficiency

The importance of Electricity Market Design trilogues and recommendations

Phasing out coal in the EU by 2030 at the latest

Northern forests and climate change project

Flora and fauna of the Siberian forest

Forests are especially valuable natural resources in Georgia

Publications

Food for Thought

Northern forests, climate change and the UNFCCC

EU climate targets aligned with the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C objective

Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Collaborative-Learning project

Air pollution in Europe and children’s health

Climate Change: A Himalayan Odessey

No further discussion needed. The agreed global goal is to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C

Fossil-free electricity 2021

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