The Current Situation
Since the turn of the 19th century, Armenia has witnessed a dramatic plunge in forest cover from 25% of its territory, to the current low, estimated at 8-9%¹. Although comprehensive data on Armenia’s forests has not been gathered in recent years, according to the last registration of the forests in 1993, the forest cover constituted 334,100 hectares or 11.2% of Armenia’s territory.²
An estimated 500,000 cubic meters of wood are burned in Armenia every year for fuel. This means over 4,000 hectares of forests are cut for fuel as well as other purposes.³ The average forest area per Armenian inhabitant is only 0.1 hectare, while for the Commonwealth of Independent States the average is 27 times higher (2.7 hectares per inhabitant). Furthermore, in 1993, the volume of forests was 125 cubic meters per hectare—only half of what would be considered ecologically sound. Presently, the mean density of Armenia’s forests is below the point at which they have the ability to regenerate.
Pressures on the Forests
1 Report on Millennium
Development Goals, Armenia 2002