Ecologists Preparing Counter-Attack on Re Highway through Shikahogh

[Chakrian Hovsep]

ARMENIAN ECOLOGISTS PREPARING COUNTER-ATTACK ON ISSUE OF LAYING
HIGHWAY VIA SHIKAHOGH PRESERVE

YEREVAN, JUNE 6. ARMINFO. Armenian ecologists will be thoroughly
prepared for the public hearings of the issue for laying a highway
Armenia-Iran via Shikahogh preserve, say a number of ecological NGOs.

President of the Association for Sustainable Human Development Karine
Daniyelyan says that today there is nothing more important than the
protection of the preserve. The very idea of laying a road via the
preserve is unacceptable. The Armenian government cannot lay a road
at nature's detriment even if it is strategically important. There
have been many examples of the authorities damaging nature for the
sake of declared national and economic interests. "But officials
inhale the same air as ordinary people do," says Daniyelyan. He also
quotes UN as reporting that in Armenia forests are in 8 times worse
state than worldwide while with the above highway to cause a 6 bln AMD
damage to Shikahogh.

NOTE: opened in 1958 Shikahogh preserves rare species of flora and
fauna - over 1,100 species of plants with 70 of them on the verge of
extinction.