YEREVAN—There was no “spring break” for Armenia Tree Project (ATP). Over the past month, another 58,200 trees were planted, including 4,900 fruit trees. This brings the total number of trees planted to 4,781,520 since 1994. Plantings were undertaken at 134 locations, including churches, refugee villages, schools, and museums. This included 41 new planting sites.
To sustain newly planted trees at the memorial in Musaler village dedicated to the Musa Dagh resistance, an irrigation system was installed as part of a generous gift from the Estate of the late Haig J. Boyadjian. Special plantings took place at the Pokr Mher military school, Dilijan International School, Quality Schools International, and the Avedisian School in the Malatia Sebastia district of Yerevan.
A number of community forests were planted as well in the Kotayk, Lori, and Shirak regions. The trees for the spring plantings were grown at ATP’s nurseries in the villages of Karin, Khachpar, and Margahovit, as well as backyard nursery micro-enterprises in Aghavnavank village.
In keeping with one of ATP’s goals of combating rural poverty by creating jobs and promoting self-sufficiency, ATP provided trees to the refugee and border villages of Kalavan, Nerkin Karmraghpyur, Aygepar, and Chinari.
“Living under the constant threat of gunfire from our neighbor [Azerbaijan] makes overcoming obstacles very difficult. ATP’s work helps to strengthen the ties between our villagers and their land. You gave our community hope and most important of all, faith and patience for the future,” said S. Saghoyan, a community leader in Chinari, one of the villages on the border with Azerbaijan.
This spring, ACBA Credit-Agricole Bank, Anelik Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Byblos Bank all sponsored and participated in tree planting as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. “We’re so happy CSR is blossoming in Armenia with so much promise as more and more organizations are showing interest. It was a great, long season, the weather was on our side, and it allowed us to do a significant amount of planting,” said ATP Deputy Director Arthur Harutyunyan.
ATP’s reforestation program was advanced in the Lori region this spring with the planting of 23,200 decorative and 300 fruit trees along a hillside in Mikhaylovka village. More than 200,000 trees are projected to be planted as part of the forestry programs in the fall.
In addition to plantings, ATP organized a public cleanup event in the framework of the global Earth Day activities. Members of the international diplomatic corps and community, as well as representatives from several local and international organizations joined their efforts to clean the Yerevan Children’s Railway Park in Hrazdan Gorge and the adjacent banks of the Hrazdan River.
ATP’s mission is to assist the Armenian people in using trees to improve their standard of living and protect the environment, guided by the desire to promote self-sufficiency, aid those with the fewest resources, and conserve the indigenous ecosystem. ATP’s three major programs are tree planting, environmental education, and sustainable development initiatives.
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Hopefully, the diaspora Armenians will benefit from preserved fruit and food products exported from Armenia. There are a large number of Turkish products being sold in US markets. I for one, never buy Turkish products. I think a list of this products should be made, together with market research such as volume, and send to Armenia if they can produce these. I am sure most Armenians will prefer to buy well prepared Armenian products.
ATP is the most productive project in Armenia on all grounds founded
by Mougar family donations; it will have additional positive results
if Armenia’s friendly nations participate to form commercial forests
bearing each nation’s name for forest products export on 50-50 basis
every body will profit and keeping working people in the country.
What needs to be done to plant even more trees? Make it a field trip for students across Armenia a few days a year to get more people planting?
The more trees the better. Right now Armenia is at a deficit.