Friday, May 10 2019 14:26

ArmInfo.Measures for illegal logging will be tightened in Armenia. The amendments to the Criminal Code and the package of related laws were approved at a government  meeting on May 10.

As RA Minister of Nature Protection Eric Grigoryan noted, the project  was developed jointly by the Ministry of Nature Protection, the  Special Investigation Service and the Investigative Committee. It is  aimed at reducing the level of illegal logging and toughening  measures of responsibility. The current articles of the Criminal  Code, according to the minister, do not cover all the existing risks,  which appear not only in the process of illegal logging in order to  generate personal income, but also transportation and sale. Given the  available data and the current situation, an attempt is made to  completely cover all the gaps in the country's legislation, and to  bring the responsibility measures in line with the policy of the  Ministry of Nature Protection for the prevention of illegal logging.  Currently, Eric Grigoryan continued, over 50% of all criminal cases  related to offenses in the field of ecology relate to illegal logging  of forests. It is envisaged, in particular, to double the rate of  penalties in the first case of cutting, and if the offense is  repeated during the year, to bring violators to criminal  responsibility. It is also planned to sharply increase the penalty  rate for the killing of the Caucasian leopard, which will be 100  million drams instead of the current rate of 3 million drams. The  minister said that currently between 8 and 12 individuals of the  Caucasian leopard are recorded, the code of which is noted in Armenia  in 2019.

Earlier, the minister reported that implementation of a program of  reforms related to the forest resources of the country are being  discussed in Armenia. For a long time, according to him, forestry in  the country has been adversely affected, and that there are areas  where the forest has degraded in recent years. According to him, the  goals of this program are very large and ambitious. "The time has  come for the forests to return what they gave to Armenia and the  whole world. The time has come for our actions not to be linear and  affect the sphere of legislative and legal changes, as well as the  psychology of the people," the minister noted. Eric Grigoryan said  that the ministry is holding a wide range of discussions around  forest reforms, which is attended by representatives of academia and  representatives of international organizations. He also noted the  importance of the participation of the Diaspora in this issue. He  said that opportunities will be created so that the citizens of  Armenia, living both in the country and abroad, have the opportunity  to contribute to the work on the protection of forests. The program  budget is 16 million euros. The program, implemented by the Ministry  of Ecology of Armenia in cooperation with the UNDP and the German  embassy, has two goals: to create a stable working environment,  including monitoring systems that facilitate management planning, and  also to carry out demonstration works. As part of the program, it is  planned to introduce modern IT technologies, drone technologies,  retraining of personnel and other tasks into the forestry sector.