Azernews.Az

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Luxury mansions built on the places of green zone in the capital Yerevan caused great concerns among ecologists.

"Armenian state officials sacrifice trees to their luxury mansions in Armenia," ecologist Karine Danielyan said at a press-conference on September 15.

Green zones in the city are being destroyed for construction of large mansions. Executive power of Yerevan city has no plan to stop the destruction of the city's nature, she stressed.

Danielyan said there is almost no green zone left in Yerevan. "We have even called on the oligarchs to think over it and give back that territories to people," the ecologist said.

Danielyan added that City Mayor Taron Margaryan, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and other high-ranking state officials own luxurious villas in Yerevan.

The nature is being destroyed at high pace in Armenia. "The whole country bogged down with the garbage. That shows how the authorities treat the nature," Danielyan said.

The ecologist underlined that construction work in every corner of the city let no green zone to survive.

Social Watch, an international network of citizens' organizations, reported that deforestation in Armenia has reached an unprecedented level. Only 7 percent of the country's territory has a covered with forests as compared to 35 percent two centuries ago. Use of wood for fuel due to lack of alternative energy sources and mining operations held in ecologically sensitive areas are the key reasons of deforestation.

Air pollution in Armenia is also at an alarming level, Social Watch indicated. For instance, the capital city Yerevan suffers from heavy pollution, 90 percent of which is caused by vehicles. The atmosphere in other Armenian cities is also heavily polluted.

Social Watch said the shortage of ecologically pure water is one of the top environmental challenges facing Armenia. There is still not a functional wastewater treatment plant in Yerevan. Experts predict that the climate change scenario will cause severe drinking water deficiency in the coming decades in Armenia.