AVERAGE ANNUAL PRECIPITATIONS IN ARMENIA DECREASE BY 5.8%
WHILE TEMPERATURE RISES BY 0.7 DEGREES
05-06-2007 16:55:00 | Armenia | Social
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. This year's slogan of June 5
- International Day of Environmental Protection is "Melting Ice:
Vital Subject". According to the message of the UN
Secretary-General on the occasion of this day, the result of
human activities - greenhouse gas emissions have caused the
global warming. Now the concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is higher than ever before in the past 600 thousand
years, and the speed of this process is increasing.
During the event dedicated to International Day of
Environmental Protection, Deputy Resident Representative of the
UNDP Armenia Office Alexander Avanesov said that Armenia has no
strategy and action plan of climate change adaptation. Whereas,
according to him, studies conducted in 1930-1990 show that the
average annual amount of precipitations has decreased by 5.8% in
Armenia, while the temperature has risen by 0.7 degrees. "We
have developed a joint program in cooperation with the UNDP
Global Ecological Fund. The program deals with the problem of
Armenia's mountainous forest ecosystems endangered as a result
of climate change," A. Avanesov said.
The presentation of the film "Poisoning in the Name of
Profit" made by the coalition of Eco-Armenia NGOs took place at
the event. According to the script writer Inga Zarafian, the
earth's depths in Armenia contain almost all groups of metals -
ferrous, noble, non-ferrous, precious metals. "Mining industry
is undergoing development in Armenia, in the past three years
the number of mining companies has increased 1.5fold, which has
caused huge damage to the environment," I. Zarafian stated.