The nation’s defect according to the environmentalist
Many rivers and streams of Armenia are polluted. This is the conclusion that 1,200 schoolchildren and youth members of eco-groups came to after participating in a monitoring of the "Study of the biodiversity of Armenia's rivers and streams". The monitoring was organized by the German Technical Partnership which declared a contest called "Rivers are living ecosystems". The contest, as well as the eco-educational campaign and the results of the program were summed up today.
"We conducted many experiments and came to the conclusion that the human factor plays a great role," says student of "Yerevak" educational complex Narine Khachatryan who also participated in the program.
Biology teacher at the same educational complex Dolores Ghapantsyan gave examples.
"The Davitashen section of Hrazdan River was comparably cleaner. The section of Kievyan Bridge was much more polluted, while the pollution of the river in the Argavand section was at the 4th level and that is troubling," says the teacher, adding that the cleanest river is Amberd River which, according to her, has first-degree clean water.
Attending the event was Germany's Ambassador to Armenia Hans Yokhen-Schmidt. Welcoming the participants, the Ambassador stressed that it is first necessary to develop the awareness of nature protection among children. "It is dangerous to be only interested in economic interests without paying enough attention to ecological issues," said the Ambassador.
According to environmentalist Karine Danielyan, it has to be developed not only among children, but the older generation as well. "It seems as though it is difficult to develop that awareness among the older generation," said the environmentalist and viewed the feeling of materialism as the reason for that. "It is our defect as a nation when we place interests above everything else," said Danielyan.
The 5 winning schools and eco-groups each received a microscope. The Minister of Nature Protection was also invited to the event, but he didn't show up.
