An Interview with Sona Ayvazyan
Environmental Policy Expert/Project Director, Center for Regional Development/Transparency International Armenia

The Center for Regional Development/Transparency International Armenia (CRD/TI Armenia) is a non-governmental organization that focuses on promoting an accountable and transparent governance system, increasing public awareness on reform processes and encouraging the participation of civil society in policy decision-making.

Sona Ayvazyan is a Project Director with CRD/TI and holds an MA in Political Science and International Relations from the American University of Armenia as well as an MA in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in the United States .

Prior to her involvement with CRD/TI Armenia she worked on various environmental projects with USAID and was an intern at the National Information and Analysis Unit of the Division for Sustainable Development at the United Nations Secretariat in New York .

This interview was held at the CRD/TI Armenia office on 11 February 2004 in Yerevan , Republic of Armenia.

 

ONNIK KRIKORIAN: Although I know you are involved with other projects, I'd like to specifically talk about the environment. Perhaps you could start by outlining the Center for Regional Development/Transparency International Armenia's involvement in this area.

SONA AYVAZYAN: CRD/TI is working towards good government in several spheres and the environment is one of them. We have two projects at this time. One is the improvement of environmental legislation in Armenia . For example, we are involved in drafting a new law on environmental impact assessment.

This is the process of predicting and evaluating the effects of development projects as well as programs and plans on the environment. This relates to activities in the areas of agriculture, forestry, energy, land use, transport, industry, water management etc.

We have a law from 1995 that hasn't been working properly for various reasons but mainly because of deficiencies in the law itself. Democratic principles like public participation, for example, have not been enforced. The project aims to address that failure, to improve the legal framework for environmental assessment and to also facilitate Armenia 's compliance with its international obligations.

These include the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and its Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment as well as the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

We are working with the Ministry of Nature Protection, as well as other government agencies, and also with other NGOs. This is the first example of the participation of such a wide range of stakeholders in the preparation of legislation. We have prepared a concept paper and are also involved in designing the law itself.

The second project is to promote public participation in environmental decision making in Yerevan City . This concerns the establishment of a public environmental council elected and delegated by NGOs to work with different government officials. Primarily this means working with the municipality and encouraging public participation in the decision-making process as much as the law allows.

About forty NGOs came together and drew up the regulations for a public council that will be elected at the end of this month. Most of those NGOs are concerned with the environment but there are also those interested in public health and social issues.

Previous experience with the authorities shows that confrontation doesn't achieve much and we hope that working together will instead be more beneficial. However, we will only cooperate as long as our interests are the same and will speak out whenever necessary.

Of course, we are already in dialogue with the authorities but are confident that an elected body will have more credibility.

OK: I would like to speak about environmental concerns in Yerevan a little later, but perhaps you could give me an overview of your concerns with the environment in the country as a whole. For example, I recently spent some time with the Armenian Forests NGO and went to see some of their projects in Tsaghadzor and Odzoun.

Until then, while I knew that there was a problem with deforestation in Armenia , I don't think that I had ever noticed the extent of the problem. However, there is some confusion regarding how much damage is the result of individuals cutting down trees and how much is down to large businesses involved in commercial activities.

SA: Because of widespread poverty and corruption, everybody is trying to do whatever business they can. Everybody is involved and it's difficult to say where it started. Even the specialists I speak to have different opinions. Some say that communities are responsible for cutting down trees while others say it is mainly businesses. For now, I can't be sure.

However, there is a new country strategy on forests that identifies corruption to be a problem in the sector although it does not indicate where or at what level it exists. This information is necessary if countermeasures are to be developed.

OK: Recently, there have been some concerns raised regarding the transfer of Hay Antar from the Ministry of Nature Protection to the Ministry of Agriculture. Some people think that this creates a conflict of interest.

SA: I also signed the letter that was circulated by the Armenian Forests NGO, and while I agree that the official forestry department should be removed from the Ministry of Nature Protection, most of the specialists I have spoken to think that it should instead be made into a separate, independent body [under the Government].

Because of financial considerations, however, it was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture.

OK: The environment might seem a strange area for CRD/TI to be involved in. When people think of corruption, they generally think of money changing hands. However, it can also refer to the abuse of power and position in the allocation of land for business purposes, for example.

SA: Studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between a country's environmental performance and its corruption perceptions index. There is significant corruption related to the exploitation of natural resources such as forests, for example. In fact, corruption is everywhere. It's just that in some areas it is more visible than others. Natural resources and urban development, in particular, provide great opportunities for corruption to flourish.

Page 1 of 2