Climate Exchange

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Adaptation to climate change in the

mountain forest ecosystems of Armenia

Anahit Hovsepyan, Head of Climate Research Division, Armenian State Hydrometeorological and Monitoring Service;

Levon Vardanyan, Director, Armenian State Hydrometeorological and Monitoring Service;

Aram Ter-Zakaryan, Task Leader, Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts in Mountain Forest Ecosystems of Armenia,

UNDP & GEF-SPA Project, UNDP Armenia

rmenia’s forests are unevenly distributed across the country.

The area of forest lands in the Syunik region in the south-

east of the country extends to 94,243 hectares, including a

forest-covered area of approximately 65,000 hectares (20 per cent of

the country’s forests). In contrast, cropland totals 27,345 hectares.

The high level of biodiversity is one of the most important features

of the Syunik region. Various types of ecosystems are represented

here, including semi-deserts, arid open forests, oak forests, steppes

and tragacanth formations as well as aquatic and marsh growth,

alpine and sub-alpine vegetation, and petrophilous vegetation.

Based on assessments of the impacts of climate change, including

variability, the Syunik region has been identified as critically vulner-

able, especially in terms of the risk posed by climate change to its

unique mountain forest ecosystems

. The climate of the Syunik region

is remarkably diverse due to its complex relief and large fluctuation

of altitudes. The highest point is Mount Kaputdzhukh (3,906m

above sea level) and the lowest is the depression in the Megrin gorge

(375m above sea level). The high altitude, orientations of the moun-

tain ranges and occluded borders of the river valleys and basins have

a significant impact on the region’s climate. Most of the mountain

slopes have an eastern orientation, so the air masses blowing from

the east move up the mountain slopes and cool rapidly, causing a

gradual increase in relative humidity. Vertical climate zoning is a

typical feature and air masses become significantly drier as they pass

over the mountain ranges. Air temperature fluctuates within a large

range due to altitude differences, and the spatial distribution of annual

precipitation is irregular.

Addressing climate change impacts in mountain forests

In 2008, the Government of the Republic of Armenia launched a project

funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to enhance national

capacities in the forest and biodiversity sectors to adapt to the antici-

pated climate change impacts in the mountain forest ecosystems. The

implementation of the project ‘Adaptation to climate change impacts

in mountain forest ecosystems of Armenia’ is on-going and the project

will be completed in 2013.

UNDP is the implementing agency of the project and the project’s

main national counterparts are the Ministry of Agriculture and

ArmStateHydromet under the Ministry of Emergency Situations. At

the local level, the main counterparts are the Syunik Marz Department

of Agriculture and Environment Protection, Forest Enterprises and

Administrations of the Specially Protected Areas.

The main objective of the project is to assist Armenia

in enhancing the adaptive capacity of the vulnerable

mountainous forests ecosystems to climate change. One

key expected output is the development of products and

information that will assist national and local authorities

in reducing the climate change related risks and improv-

ing forest and protected area management planning and

management practices.

Institutional framework of forest areas management

in Armenia

Various forest-related laws are in place in Armenia. In

2005 the Government approved the National Forest

Policy and Strategy of the Republic of Armenia

and

the National Forest Programme

, which to some extent

address issues pertinent to climate change. In 2005, the

National Assembly also passed the new Forest Code of the

Republic of Armenia.

Forest governance is under the republican body

ArmForest, a State Non-Commercial Organization under

the Ministry of Agriculture. In the Syunik region, forest

cosystems

Source: Armenian State Hydrometeorological and Monitoring Service

Climate zones over Armenia