YEREVAN, JUNE 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The report-manual "Economic Study of Armenia's Forest and Woodworking Sector" contains information about wood consumption, cash flows in the woodworking sector, exports of wood and finished articles made of wood, as well as the current environmental protection problems. Manuk Hergnian, representative of the research center "Economy and Values" said at the June 27 presentation of the manual that studies showed that 9% of Armenian households still use wood as fuel for heating and food making. According to him, the annual amount of wood used by over 300 small and medium-size woodworking enterprises is ten times as much as the amount envisaged by state norms. The revenues of the Armenian woodworking sector, including revenues from the export of expensive wood, amount to 132 million dollars a year. In the words of Jeffrey Tufenkian, the chairman of "Armenian Forests" NGO, the report throws light on one of the most obsure sectors of the Armenian economy. He considered the manual as an excellent basis from shifting from deforestation to forest restoration in the country. Janet Clozer, OSCE Armenia Office executive on economic and environmental protection issues, presented the position of international organizations on this issue, noting that their objective is to assist the Armenian authorities and public with sustainable forest management. According to her, increasing the awareness and the creation of national capacities represent important steps in order to prevent illegal tree cutting and to restore the environmental protection and economic values of Armenian forests. The British Charge d'Affaires in Armenia Richard Hyde also expressed a willingness to assist with the implementation of this initiative. He expressed a hope that the above mentioned report will launch a process to help preserve Armenian forests for the present and future generations. According to the proposals presented in the report, the problem of deforestation should be solved through such measures as provision of gas supply to border villages, use of microcredits to cover preliminary costs of gas supply, imposing a ban on the export of building wood from Armenia, use of alternative energy resources, and development of ecotourism.

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