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According to the official statistical data presented by the World Bank in 2012 the most part of world illegal deforestation falls on the share of Indonesia, Madagascar and Western Africa.

In accordance with the report published by the WB the annual illegal income of the lawbreakers as a result of illegal deforestation reaches USD 15 million. In addition, illegal deforestation is mostly realized by organized criminal groups.

Armenian forests are also not secured from similar ‘expedition teams’. The last case was on November 7, when Edik Tamrazyan, born 1949, and Davit Haroutyunyan, born 1974, were arrested from the Sevan-Gavar highway along with the ‘Maz-5549’ truck driven by Tamrazyan as a result of the operative-investigative actions taken by the staff of the Fight Against Organized Crime and Criminal Prosecution General Departments of the Police with the allegation of realizing illegal deforestation.

After the examination of the car body 2,1 cubic meters of beech tree firewood with the total amount of AMD 441,000 thousand was revealed as well as 4,2 cubic meters of board of the same tree in connection with which D. Haroutyunyan did not present relevant documents.

Whether the deforestation is organized or spontaneous it threatens the security of the people, since the reduction of forested areas also influences the life and behavior of fauna.

The animals living in forests loose orientation, they go out in order to find food and start attacking people and farms.

Starting from 2011 the RA Government provides finances to the Ministry of Nature Protection with the objective to regulate the number of wolfs. In 2012 the amount made AMD 20 million. The Ministry pays AMD 100 to hunters for each hunt wolf.

To the question of ‘Pastinfo.am’ what kind of influence the deforestation has on the behavior of animals, the Head of the Bio-Resource Management Agency of the RA Ministry of Nature Protection Artashes Ziroyan replied, “As all natural ecosystems, the forest ecosystem has a big influence on the fauna, especially on the life of large vertebrate animals. The forest biomass is considered as a source of food and living environment for animals. Thus, both birds and large vertebrate animals suffer from intensive deforestation”.

On May 24, 2012 the Minister of Nature Protection Aram Haroutyunyan was surprised during the meeting with journalists with the fact that wolfs attack villagers’ sheep in the regions lately.

As he said, in case of necessity and suggestions from the regional governments, the Ministry will give an additional permission for the wolf hunt.

It appears that illegal deforestation gives double blow to the state. First, the ecosystem balance is undermined, which directly threatens the security of the society. Second, and most ridiculous, the state bodies again take the path of ‘sectoral solutions’ instead of eradicating the issue.

They bypass the main reason causing the problem, connect hopes with state resources and state budget and let the villagers care about their personal security.

Armine Grigoryan

Автор Factinfo