In Armenia, the educational campaign "Education for the Sake of Nature" is getting under way. It was launched by 22 organisations belonging to a network of non-formal education and adult learning. The occasion is the upcoming international biodiversity conference, COP17, which will take place in the country.
Beginning on 12 October and lasting three weeks, participants in the campaign will publish daily material on social media about Armenia's nature: its unique phenomena, animals and plants, including those listed in the Red Book. The aim of the campaign is, through education, to heighten interest in the country's natural wealth and foster a more responsible attitude towards its preservation.
As Tatev Asryan, programme coordinator of the Armenian office of DVV International, told a press conference at the Media Center, the forthcoming conference is an excellent opportunity for everyone to speak out and contribute to the protection of nature. In her view, by telling people about the treasures of Armenian nature, it is possible to draw their attention to the protection of valuable species.
According to Vazgen Galstyan, an expert in the study and conservation of biodiversity, it is very difficult to convey in a short time to society what impact the disappearance or decline in numbers of even a single animal or plant species has on the lives of people and their descendants.
A very striking example is the Sevan ishkhan, whitefish or crayfish. Their mass consumption has led to our future generations facing the risk: will they have the opportunity to eat Sevan ishkhan — an endemic species of exceptional biological value, both for science and for food security.
— Vazgen Galstyan, biodiversity expert
The expert added that excessive use of natural resources is most often linked to consumption as food. Viewed from a scientific standpoint, the picture becomes even clearer: two subspecies of the Sevan ishkhan, a local trout, are already considered extinct and are no longer available for research.
Goar Mnatsakanyan, head of the youth organisation "Sevan", believes that young people are interested in protecting nature but prefer to acquire practical knowledge. In her words, information from books alone is not enough for an emotional connection between a person and nature to arise. All young people involved in practical programmes treat natural resources far more carefully and responsibly. Therefore, one of the most important tasks is to make knowledge from books more tangible, so that people could, as she put it, "feel the information on their own skin".
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