ArmInfo.The Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets launched its We are our Forests campaign as part of its Aid for Artsakh project, in order to provide emergency relief to the forests and ecosystems of Artsakh. By raising $50,000, the FPWC will be able to plant 50 000 site-specific trees as part of its mission to protect and conserve the biodiversity of the region.
As the Foundation reports, trees will be grown in a tree nursery owned by FPWC with a Target Plant Concept(TPC) methodology. The TPC is an effective framework for selecting seedlings based on specific characteristics best-suited to a given site. These characteristics are often scientifically derived from testing the factors that can be linked to outplanting success, such as seedling morphology and physiology, genetic source, and overcoming limiting factors on outplanting sites. The method allows to have very high survival rates (80-90%).
The growing cycle will begin in March, 2021. By October, 2021 plants will be ready for the outplanting. The planting season starts from mid-October to late November. The days can vary based on weather conditions. It's also possible to maintain some part of the trees during winter and plant during March and early April neat year.
Maintenance of planted trees and survival rate tracking: FPWC will cooperate with the Artsakh Nature Fund, the first environmental CSO in Artsakh to provide the further care and track survival rates of planted trees. Artsak Nature Fund was established to conserve and sustain the unique natural heritage and biodiversity of Artsakh. It is the first organization to receive an international funding from Fondation Franklinia, a Geneva based organization, which recognized Artsakh and supported the initiative towards conservation of its unique forests in Y2019.
FPWC and ANF will maintain and monitor the growth of trees 5 years after planting. This includes irrigation during summer months, patrolling by rangers to prevent unregulated grazing, remove and prevent weeds around the plants, etc. During these years the tree species will grow and develop a strong root system to grow independently. Though the main maintenance will last two years, we will continue monitoring and patrolling the reforested areas during at least another 5 years, to make sure no negative human impact is recorded on the site.
Rangers will patrol the planted areas and monitor the survival rates. This is a huge benefit for the project, as we have a constant supervision of planted trees, which help us to respond quickly to any disruption of normal growth.
An evidence-based approach will be used by applying data gathering with GPS coordinates. Planted trees will be divided into blocks and recorded with the GPS coordinates, type of species, etc. The survey team will locate each tree block and record its measurements along with survival rates during the year. This will give us a better understanding of survival rates, as well as get access to real-time data, so if there is any sort of mistake or issue that disrupts the normal growth of trees, we can prevent and take actions before it's late. To note,during the 44-day war in Artsakh, the Azerbaijani armed forces intensively used phosphorus bombs prohibited by international conventions, which destroyed the military force on the principle of scorched earth. White phosphorus is a killer not only of people, but also of natural resources. These munitions have caused numerous forest fires.