EcoLur
The Secretariat of the Berne Convention expects to receive the position of the Armenian authorities on the complaint of NGOs regarding Amulsar gold-bearing quartzite mining project by July 17: this is what This the letter of the Secretariat of the Berne Convention says, which was sent to Hasmik Ghalachyan, National Coordinator of the Bern Convention in Armenia. According to the letter, the position will be discussed during the second session of the Bureau of the Bern Convention on September 15-16.
Reminder: In March 2020 “EcoLur” Informational NGO, “Forests of Armenia” NGO, “Green Armenia” NGO and CEE Bankwatch Network filed a complaint to Berne Convention. The complaint particularly says that Armenian Government has violated Article 4, point 1 and 2, Article 5 and Article 6 of the Bern Convention by issuing permits to the Amulsar Gold Project and allowing significant impact on protected habitats and species from Resolution No. 4 (1996) and Resolution No. 6 (1998) of the Standing Committee. The project is situated within and has already impacted territories of Emerald Site "Djermuk" area AM0000009 and could have further significant impacts on other Emerald sites: "Sevan" National park AM0000002 and "Gorhajk" area AM0000002, all three adopted as candidate sites by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention. Armenian Government disregarded procedures for evaluation of projects impacting Emerald sites by not doing proper assessment on protected species and habitats, and the EIA reports applied methodologies that violate the Bern Convention and are incompatible with the Emerald Network.
April 20, 2020 at 18:33