Strategy and National Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia on Conservation, Protection, Reproduction and Use of Biological Diversity.

The well-being of Armenia’s population is greatly dependent on availability of biological resources, which are the strategic resources for the country, equally to underground resources. In this respect the rich biodiversity of Armenia with high capacities to ensure stability of ecosystems is a precondition for economic development of the country. The sub-sectors of agriculture, such as crop cultivation, live-stock breeding, bee-keeping and fishfarming as well as a number of important subsectors of the light and food industry depend on the representatives of useful wild plants and endemic animal species. Biodiversity has invaluable role in maintenance of qualitative and quantitative features of ecosystem services (ES), especially when it comes to protection of the genetic pool of cultivated plants and domestic animals, breeding, production of medicines and new substances through biotechnologies.
Loss of habitats is conditioned by open mining, constructions, agricultural practices, loggings, development of hydropower production sector, recreation and tourism.
Overuse of biological resources. The main consequences of overuse of biological resources include increasing anthropogenic impact on natural landscapes, disturbance and degradation of forest, semidesert, meadow and steppe ecosystems, disturbance of terrestrial and water communities and populations, change of their species composition, disturbance of plant cover in pastures, reduction of productivity of fodder plants, reduction of economically valuable species as well as rare species and those under the risk of extinction. The risks include also poaching and violation of hunting regulations. The lack of a comprehensive information database on biodiversity in its turn excludes actual assessment of the impact of anthropogenic and natural factors on biodiversity, estimation of the caused damage and most importantly decision-making based on accurate information. The stocktaking, inventory and monitoring as the main necessary elements of effective bioresource management are still not implemented at appropriate level and scale.
Ecosystems are the basis for human well-being and economic development of the country. They ensure food, clean air and water and other needs. Considering the scale of anthropogenic impact on nature in Armenia, maintenance and restoration of ESs should become an important component of economic activity, which requires changes of the norms and rules of economic behavior and political decision-making. At the same time even partial recovery of ecosystems and their services is usually much more expensive than implementation of the measures aimed at their protection. According to international classification the services provided by ecosystems are classified as provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services. Maintenance of ESs and long-term use of biodiversity imply application of the ecosystem approach in integrated management of natural resources. To date in Armenia the needs of natural resource management have not been fully integrated in the sectoral policies. The main reason is the lack of assessment of provisioning services provided by natural ecosystems and their monetary evaluation. Consequently, it is important to evaluate natural resources and ESs as well as to integrate the costs of biodiversity maintenance and restoration in the economic development policy and strategy of the country.
The Strategic Plan 2011-2020 is aimed at taking effective and urgent actions to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that by 2020 ecosystems are resilient and continue to provide essential services, thereby securing the planet's variety of life, and contributing to human well-being, and poverty eradication. The cornerstone of the Plan is the provision that biodiversity is a basis for ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Biodiversity provides for food security and human health, it ensures clean air and water as well as economic development of countries. The plan stipulates general framework for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, which includes the following five main goals: (a) address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society; (b) reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use thereof; (c) improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity; (d) enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services; and (e) enhance biodiversity conservation and use through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity building.
The national targets related to the strategic direction on enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem conservation and restoration of degraded habitats are as follows: (a) to enhance conservation of biodiversity habitats with minimizing their degradation; and (b) to enhance in-situ and ex-situ conservation of biodiversity.