Armenia is facing significant challenges with land degradation, primarily affecting its forests and wetlands. These ecosystems are crucial for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. However, overexploitation and poor management have led to a decline in forest cover to 9.3% and a drastic reduction in wetland areas.
The Armenian government, with support from the World Bank, has launched the RESILAND: Armenia Resilient Landscapes Project to address these issues. The project aims to restore degraded landscapes and promote sustainable economic activities while strengthening institutional capacities for landscape management.
The initiative focuses on four components: developing institutional capacity and policy, restoring landscapes, promoting community benefits through agroforestry and ecotourism, and ensuring effective project management. The project was officially launched in fall 2024 and targets restoration efforts in Lori and Syunik provinces as well as the Ararat Plain.
"The costs of inaction on forest and wetland degradation in Armenia are currently over US$80 million (equivalent to 0.4% of the country’s gross domestic product, GDP) and will increase to over US$128 million in 2050 if no additional restorative actions are taken," highlights the urgency of addressing these environmental challenges.
With support from the World Bank Global Program on Sustainability (GPS), RESILAND aims to integrate sustainability into Armenia's policies by conducting assessments that include gender analysis, market scans for non-timber forest products commercialization, and alignment with global biodiversity frameworks.
As Armenia prepares to host COP 17 in 2026, this project underscores its commitment to landscape restoration and biodiversity conservation on an international level.