The grant project “Strengthening land based adaptation capacity in communities adjacent to protected areas in Armenia”, funded by the Adaptation Fund of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was developed by the “Environmental Project Implementation Unit” State Agency of the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Armenia. The implementation of the project started in September 2019 and is scheduled to be completed in September 2023.
The overall ecological goal of the project is to preserve the agricultural and natural ecosystems of the South Caucasus by improving the socio-economic conditions of the population, increasing opportunities for additional income, increasing knowledge, awareness and managerial abilities.
The project area includes the administrative units Urtsadzor, Shaghap and Lanjanist of Vedi enlarged community of Ararat region, the city of Dilijan, the administrative units Aghavnavank, Khachardzan, Gosh, Haghartsin and Teghut of Dilijan enlarged community of Tavush region, the administrative unit Margahovit of Pambak enlarged community of Lori region and Fioletovo community.
The objective of the project is to reduce the climate risk vulnerability of local communities living adjacent to the “Khosrov Forest” and “Dilijan” National Park by strengthening the adaptive capacity of the agricultural sector and reinforcing their institutional and planning capacity for climate change adaptation. The project is aimed at implementing community based, climate smart agricultural practices in degraded areas to reduce climate risks vulnerability of production systems and sustain protected areas, strengthening value chains for climate smart agriculture and making climate smart technologies accessible for vulnerable rural communities, including equally for women and men, and raising awareness, developing planning, monitoring and decision-making capacity on climate smart agriculture production methods and land degradation neutrality in target communities.
In order to reach this objective, the project carried out the repair of 35.8 km of field roads and the construction of 9 irrigation points on pastures, the improvement of 861 hectares degraded pastures, 96 hectares haymedows and 26 hectares arable land (with the concomitant use of mineral and organic fertilizers), the construction of an irrigation network of 8,700 m, the construction of unheated greenhouses with a total area of 3000 m2, construction of 30 solar fruits dryers, introduction of new vegetable varieties and hybrids on an area of 3.4 hectares, construction of 2 photovoltaic plants for the operation of pumping stations, the creation of test areas for growing herbs with a total area of 1.2 hectares, the creation of 2 field schools, the organization of trainings to increase awareness and knowledge of the population, the publication and distribution of popular booklets, the creation of 9 eco-clubs.
The intensions of attracting new settlements and using the saved funds in the project have been agreed with the Adaptation fund. It was decided to include the settlements of Hovk and Dashtakar communities in the project.
It is planned to use the saved funds for the construction of irrigation water pipes, the repair of field roads and the construction of a water supply point on pastures, the construction of unheated greenhouses and solar fruits dryers and the foundation of orchards.
More detailed information about the AF-funded project can be found here.
