Armenian Environment Ministry Under Fire Over Missing Details on 804 Million Dram International Grant
Armenia's Ministry of Environment is facing questions after failing to clarify exactly where millions of drams were spent on land restoration projects. In response to inquiries from the local investigative outlet Hetq, the agency refused to provide the precise locations and timelines of the funded activities.
Back in 2021, the government of Armenia approved a special program (N 725) aimed at improving severely degraded pastures by 15 and 70 percent, respectively. For this purpose, the Global Environment Facility provided a grant of over 804 million 561 thousand dram. The management of these funds and the execution of the measures were entrusted to the Ministry of Environment, with support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
How the Funds Were Managed
When the investigative media outlet asked which specific communities benefited from the work, the ministry provided an evasive response. Arkadi Khachatryan, the acting Secretary General of the agency, stated that
"no other information is available"at the Ministry of Environment regarding the program's implementation details. According to open sources, the initiative was launched on December 5, 2022, and is scheduled to conclude on February 11, 2025. The process reportedly covered the communities of Tumanyan in the northern Lori region and Sisian in the southern Syunik region. However, there is no mention of any large-scale operations on the official online platforms of these municipalities.
Conflicting Indicators
Significant discrepancies have emerged between official government documents and the data published by the international organization. The ministry claims that 404.3 hectares of arable land have been cultivated and the condition of another 420 hectares of pastures has been improved. Meanwhile, the official UN agency report mentions the improvement of only 300 hectares of arable land. The Armenian ministry also reported establishing the groundwork for the restoration of 4000 hectares of meadows, which are expected to improve an additional 3500-4000 hectares over the next 15 to 20 years, yet failed to specify any locations for these lands.
Publicly available material about the program is currently limited to a video showing drone-assisted fertilization in Sisian and Tumanyan, along with photographs showcasing the harvest from 120 beehives.
This article was generated automatically using AI based on reporting from established news sources. All sources are listed below.
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