Lake Sevan, a national treasure
No landscape is closer to the Armenian heart than Lake Sevan, the vast high-altitude lake that supplies water, food and summer refuge to a nation. For decades Sevan has also been the subject of one of the country’s longest-running environmental debates — over water levels, fish stocks, pollution and the balance between using the lake and protecting it. We follow this story because it is, in miniature, the story of every choice a society makes about its natural inheritance.
Forests, biodiversity and the pressure of growth
Armenia sits within a global biodiversity hotspot, home to wild relatives of wheat and fruit, to leopards and vultures, to plants found nowhere else. But its forests have been under pressure for a century, and the tension between economic development — especially mining — and conservation is one of the defining arguments of Armenian public life. We report on both the losses and the recoveries: the reforestation drives, the new protected areas, the communities fighting to keep a valley intact.
Climate at altitude
A mountain country feels climate change early. Shifting snowlines, stressed water supplies and changing growing seasons are already reshaping rural life. Drawing on assessments from bodies such as the United Nations Environment Programme, we try to make the science concrete — what it means for a farmer’s calendar, a village’s water, a hiker’s trail.
A culture of stewardship
Environmentalism in Armenia is not only policy; it is also volunteers planting saplings on a spring weekend, students clearing a riverbank, families who have tended the same orchard for generations. This grassroots stewardship, which overlaps with the social initiatives we cover elsewhere, gives us reason for cautious hope. If you are working to protect a corner of the country, we would like to hear from you — get in touch.