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PEASANTS WILL NOT GO TO THE FOREST

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The new borders of national park “Dilijan” may create problems for the nearby villages. In November the new plan of management of the park will be sent to the Government for ratification. As a result of metering carried out within the framework of the program «Management of natural resources and combat against poverty» realized by the World Bank, national park «Dilijan» will have an area of 36 thousand hectares instead of 28.

Manager of the park Ashot Davtyan says that they have not yet had arguments over the territory of the park with the nearby villages.

«We don't have problems with the communities. Those areas which have forests will be given to us and those which don't will be given to the community», he said. Nevertheless, the problem of pastures has not yet been solved. The peasants have a problem of lack of pastures. One of the residents of village Gosh considered it impossible to forbid the peasants to go to the forest. “If the forest is 100 meters away from our house, how can I avoid going there? After all, the forests serve us too”, he said.

Ashot Davtyan himself thinks that a balanced variant of solving the problem must be found in order to protect both the park and the peasants.

Let us remind you that in 2002 the Dilijan reserve changed its 54-year-old status and became a national park according to the decision of the Government.