Armenia’s Ministry of Nature Protection is going to submit a new edition of the Red Book of Endangered Species to the government for approval, hoping that the amended version of the book published still in Soviet times will help better promote biodiversity in more contemporary conditions.

(The Red Book of Endangered Species is an inventory of the conservation status of plant and animal species to help the government and civil society take necessary environmental action.)

“The approval of the new edition will promote a more effective protection of biodiversity and improvement of reproduction, will ensure control over species included in the Red Book and reduction of illegal action against them,” says Tatyana Danielyan, head of the Department of Biodiversity and Water Resource Protection at the Ministry.

Currently, Armenia applies the Armenia SSR Red Book published still in 1989-90, a year before the Soviet state collapsed and independent Armenia was established. This book involves 387 rare species [or species on the brink of extinction] of plants and 99 species of spinal animals.

The socio-economic changes that have taken place in Armenia in the past several years have had a negative impact on the country’s ecology, including plant and animal life. A number of valuable and endemic species have found themselves on the verge of extinction, their natural environments have degraded and habitats have shrunk. The quantitative and qualitative composition of animal populations have undergone changes.

Nature Protection Minister Aram Harutyunyan says that a complex study on the country’s biodiversity, an assessment of the situation in accordance with international criteria and a new edition of the Red Book to organize the protection of species have therefore become an urgent necessity.

The government made the decision to launch work on a new edition of the Red Book still in 2006. The project that cost about $80,000 and lasted for three years resulted in a book that includes species of 463 plants and 40 mushrooms, 155 species of vertebrates and invertebrates.

Still, the minister is concerned by the scale of poaching observed in Armenia, which continues to remain a major challenge for animal protection in the country.

While laws on hunting rare animals and fines for violations are becoming tougher, the number of poaching cases does not decrease, says the minister, adding that this year’s statistics on poaching shows no positive shift against last year.

Harutyunyan says even the revealed cases do not provide a complete picture.

“Cases of poaching were registered in Syunik this year. Two Bezoar goats were the game. Criminal proceedings were instituted and a fine of 6 million drams, or some $15,500, was set. The fine for one animal is about 3 million drams (about $7,750). Cases of wild boar poaching were also registered. A compensation of the related loss estimated at 1 million drams (about $2,600) was appointed,” says the minister.

Hunting of large game is mostly for the privileged in Armenia. But Harutyunyan emphasizes that the ministry sees no restricting circumstances to respond duly to any case of violation without exception.