ENVIRONMENTALISTS ALARMED BY SCALE OF LOGGING
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 9 2006

Environmentalists in Armenia have urged the government to put proper
economic mechanisms in place to reduce the scale of loggings and put
an end to recent years’ uneconomical use of local timber.

Armenian Forests NGO in particular wants the rates of payments for
the use of natural resources to be reconsidered.

"Thus, we will both preserve forests and make our economy healthier,"
the NGO’s head Nazeli Vartanian says.

The organization suggests exempting timber imports from all taxes
and dues to encourage timber importers and impose high payment rates
for exporters. They suggest the same in retail of wooden products
like furniture by imposing excises or lowering taxes for non-wooden
furniture.

Vartanian says imports of timber and wood as construction materials
have drastically reduced in recent years. She says that Armenia that
used only imported materials for wooden production in Soviet times
now is exporting its timber in great amounts.

HayAntar Company Director General Martun Matevosian agrees that it
would be logical to lower additional costs connected with timber
import in a country where wood is in short supply.

He expects the scale of illegal logging to increase on the threshold
of winter and calls it a natural phenomenon.

"Illegal loggings are typical of countries with poor social conditions
and shortage of energy resources," Matevosian explained.

According to HayAntar, 819 cubic meters of trees have been illegally
cut in the ten months of this year. Matevosian says the scale of
logging decreased in recent years and cites figures for 2003 during
which 16,000 cubic meters were cut illegally.

Vartanian says this official statistics is in stark contrast with
figures cited by international experts. Vartanian quotes international
studies suggesting that 800,000 cubic meters of trees were felled in
Armenia in 2003.