ArmInfo
Two volumes of a Red Book will be published in Armenia in the Armenian and English languages in August-September 2010.
Head of the Bio-diversity Department of the Armenian Nature Protection Ministry Tatyana Danielyan said at today's press conference in Yerevan that the Red Book of plants includes 452 species of higher plants and 40 species of mushrooms, and the Red Book of animals includes 153 species of vertebrates and 155 species of invertebrates. According to her, unlike the Red Book published in 1989-90, the new Red Book includes mushrooms and invertebrates for the first time.
Danielyan pointed out that the species of animals and plants included in the Armenian Red Book have been selected by the categories and criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As a result, all the species have been subdivided into three categories: critical (CR), endangered (EN) and vulnerable (VU). For instance, 12 species of animals (including leopard, Armenian mouflon, red deer, Darevsky's viper, 2 subspecies of the Sevan trout: gegharkuni and summer bakhtak) belong to the CR category, 31 species (including bezoar goat, snowcock, Caucasus grouse, stiff-tailed ducks, spoonbill) belong to the EN category, and 91 species are of the VU category.
As regards the species that have already disappeared from the territory of Armenia, they are striped hyenas and manul cats. Danielyan does not rule out a possible e-version of the Red Book, which completely depends on financing.
The research of flora and fauna of Armenia was carried out within the frames of a three-year program of the Armenian government (a total of 31 mln AMD were budgeted for this purpose). IUCN, GTZ, WWF, NDP, as well as the American University of Armenia also provided their support to publishing of the Red Book.
April 28, 2010