EcoLur
The fire having broken out in Khosrov Reserve is perceived by the society as a national disaster: the fire lasted from 12 to 16 August. As of 17 August, Russian 'IL-76' fire-fighting aircraft implemented its 15th flight on Khosrov Reserve within 3 days. According to the Armenian Government, a grass-covered area with a diameter of 15 km has been burnt down, out of which 320 ha is forest-covered, whereas WWF Armenia gives an initial, but correct assessment of the burnt-down areas. As of 15 August, WWF Armenia says the fire has included around 2733 ha, out of which 201 ha is juniper forest, 1624 ha is vegetation-covered area and the rest is the large-leaved forest.
RA Nature Protection Ministry has called for the population to demonstrate alertness and caution and not to damage animals seeking for safe places and shelters because of the fire.
On 18 August Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielyan have his assessment to the forest fires at the meeting of the Armenian Government. 'The Ministry for Emergency Situations will carry out comprehensive examinations and make professional conclusions to learn the lessons, to build the capacities to respond to forest fires and to reduce the risks of such disasters in partnership with other bodies in charge of the prevention of forest fires,' Deputy Prime Minister said.
Different proposals are posted on Facebook and other social networks suggesting to carry out tree planting to recover the vegetation or forest in Khosrov. The reserve is the only place where no human intervention should be. It's a wildlife area with stricter preservation regime and should recover in natural conditions.
We are proposing to enlarge the buffer zone near 'Khosrov Forest' State Reserve, which will have the same preservation regime, as the reserve has. Here any human activity should be excluded, and only in this case the burnt down areas in Khosrov Forest will be able to self-recover. Khosrov Reserve is a wildlife area and it shouldn't turn into an artificial area established by people.
August 17, 2017 at 15:52