CENN — SEPTEMBER 24, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. Web-based Consultation Tool
2. `Increasing Public Awareness and Participation in the Monitoring of
Safety Standards at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant’
3. The 3rd World Youth Congress
4. Lula Calls For Review Of World Bank, IMF Practices
5. Project on Caspian Birds Protection Implementing
6. BTC Project Spends $4 Mln Daily
7. ATP Executive Director Addresses UN DPI NGO Conference
8. By Late September Armenia to Present its Proposals on Millennium
Challenges Program
9. Armenian Company Awarded Quality Star
10. Deputy Parliament Speaker Says Constitutional Amendments Based on
Human Rights Respect
11. The Other Trees Are Next in Line
12. The Court Backs the Yerevan Mayor
1. WEB-BASED CONSULTATION TOOL
Dear Colleague:
As part of our consultation process for IFC’s Update of the Safeguard
Polices and the Review of the Disclosure Policy, we have developed
web-based consultation tool to receive feedback on the new Policy and
Performance Standards and the Disclosure Concept Paper.
Instructions on how to register for the online consultation is available
on the following address: for IFC
online consultation.doc
Kenneth Chin
Environment & Social Development Department
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
tel: 202 473 9581
2. `INCREASING PUBLIC AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION IN THE MONITORING OF
SAFETY STANDARDS AT THE ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT’
October 21-22, 2004
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network Regional Office in Armenia will hold
the seminar `Increasing Public Awareness and Participation in the
Monitoring of Safety Standards at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant’ on
October 21-22, 2004. The representatives of environmental NGOs in
Armenia can participate in the seminar. The priority will be given to
organizations from regional marzes. The seminar’s language is Russian.
Participants need an advanced registration; the number of participants
is limited. For further information, please contact.
Tel.: (3741) 51 26 94, 51-26-93, Fax: (3741) 51 26 95 E-mail:
[email protected]
3. THE 3RD WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS
Dear All,
The application form for The 3rd World Youth Congress is now online. We
are receiving a lot of applications as we speak so get yours in soon.
If you have difficulties applying online there will be a downloadable
version on the website soon.
Looking forward to seeing you all there in 2005.
Ray Bugg
Media and Communications Manager
World Youth Congress 2005
Tel: 0131 244 7425
Mobile 07957 261178
[email protected]
4. LULA CALLS FOR REVIEW OF WORLD BANK, IMF PRACTICES
Source: World Bank Press Review September 22, 204)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday asked the
United Nations to review the way multilateral funding organizations
work, saying that sometimes, instead of solving a crisis, they become a
“part of the problem,” reports EFE News Service.
As has been customary since the first General Assembly meeting 59 years
ago, the Brazilian president was the first to step to the podium. His
address focused on the need to help to world’s most impoverished
peoples. Lula said the moment has come for implementing “changes” in the
way in which multilateral bodies, such as the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, extend their loans if “just and sustainable
development” is to be achieved. The lenders “were created to provide
solutions, but on occasion, by virtue of their excessive strictness,
they become part of the problem, making it necessary to review their
modus operandi so as to restore their original goals,” Lula said.
Reuters explains that Brazil, the IMF’s biggest borrower and Latin
America’s largest economy, has been pushing for a change in IMF loan
programs that would allow infrastructure investments to be excluded from
calculations of fiscal targets. The IMF is studying the idea. “The issue
is to adjust their focus to development, thus restoring their original
objective.” Lula said. “The International Monetary Fund should be able
to provide the guarantee and the liquidity which are necessary for
productive investments – especially in infrastructure, housing and
sanitation – and which can also restore the poor countries’ capacity to
pay.”
Xinhua further notes the first day of the General Assembly meeting ended
with leaders from African countries pressing for greater efforts to
attain the development goals set at the Millennium Summit four years
ago. Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa praised Denmark,
Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden for consistently meeting
the long-established UN target of allocating at least 0.7 percent of
gross national product of rich countries as official development
assistance (ODA) to developing countries. “We urge the other rich
countries to produce timetables to meet this long overdue target, to
have coherent development policies, and to earnestly and deliberately
build and nurture a national consciousness and consensus on the global
war on poverty,” said Mkapa.
Agence France Presse meanwhile reports the European Commission threw its
weight Tuesday behind calls for an international tax to fight poverty
and hunger but remained skeptical that the plans would go any further.
The idea won renewed backing Monday from French President Jacques Chirac
and Lula, who outlined “radically new” proposals to combat the negative
effects of globalization at a conference in New York. “As a matter of
ideology, the Commission supports anything that can move globally in the
direction of establishing funding sources for public good,” said EU
development commissioner Paul Nielson. Such initiatives could make
“international society function as society,” he added. But he lamented:
“So far, none of those ideas has gathered enough support to move
beyond the stage of being ideas.”
The Associated Press finally adds that protesters gathered outside the
US Treasury Department Tuesday to call for a 100 percent elimination of
debt for impoverished countries that owe money to the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund. About 35 people met during their lunch hour
to listen to speakers, rally and discuss their hope that debt
cancellation for over 30 countries might be agreed upon at an Oct. 1
meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s
major industrialized nations and at World Bank and IMF meetings Oct.
2-3. The United States is pushing a plan for some debt elimination.
Marie Clarke, National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, said that
proposal is “a good start,” but she urged supporters to continue their
focus on the issue in case the debt cancellation was not agreed upon, or
if cutting aid to the countries saved the funds.
5. PROJECT ON CASPIAN BIRDS PROTECTION IMPLEMENTING
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 22, 2004
Public association for ecology and birds protection of Azerbaijan
prepared a project `Protection of species of water and wader birds on
Azerbaijan waterside of the Caspian Sea’.
According to the project, species of water and wader birds, their
dwelling, place of their main accumulation will be determined,
anthropogenic influence on birds studied, territories to be polluted in
the course of offshore accidents researched, plans of arrangement linked
with birds protection prepared as well, Chairman of the association
Ilyas Babayev told AzerTAj correspondent.
Bp and its partners for Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline allocated funds
in 18 thousand US dollars for project implementation within a year.
6. BTC PROJECT SPENDS $4 MLN DAILY
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 23, 2004
BP-Azerbaijan has spent $686 million out of the total $1 billion
scheduled in 2004 for the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline to be launched in the first half of the next year. The work in
three countries the pipeline will pass through cost $4 million per day.
7. ATP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ADDRESSES UN DPI NGO CONFERENCE
ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
617-926-8733
[email protected]
ATP Executive Director Addresses UN DPI NGO Conference
WATERTOWN, MA–Armenia Tree Project (ATP) Executive Director Jeff
Masarjian participated this week in a panel held as part of the 57th
annual United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental
Organization Conference at the UN headquarters in New York. The
conference, titled “Millennium Development Goals: Civil Society Takes
Action,” is taking place from September 8-10.
The focus of the conference is the role of NGOs as well as civil society
and governments for implementing the eight Millennium Development Goals
adopted by the UN in 2000. ATP was invited to participate in the
conference by the Armenian General Benevolent Union in association with
Rotary International, NGO Committee on Human Rights, Peace Action, and
the World Federation for Mental Health.
At the September 8 panel discussion with representatives of two other
NGOs, titled “Overcoming Obstacles to Economic Growth and Community
Development: The Role of Civil Society,” Mr. Masarjian outlined the ways
that ATP reforestation efforts are addressing many of the UN Millennium
Development Goals. The following is an abridged text of Mr. Masarjian’s
speech:
ATP Programs Contribute to Fulfillment of UN Millennium Goals in Armenia
By Jeff Masarjian, Armenia Tree Project Executive Director
Armenia Tree Project was founded in 1994 in response to the massive
felling of trees for fuel during the harsh winters of the early 1990s.
The mission of Armenia Tree Project is to improve the human, economic,
and environmental conditions of Armenia through the planting of trees,
aiding those with the fewest resources first.
Forests and trees are important and necessary components for maintaining
the environmental and economic infrastructure of a nation. They clean
the atmosphere, absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, while
simultaneously releasing oxygen. They attract and retain moisture, both
in the air and the soil, helping to regulate and stabilize the climate.
They prevent erosion and landslides, while retaining precious topsoil,
which is otherwise washed away with the rain, becoming silt in rivers,
streams and lakes, choking plant and animal life.
Forests also provide habitats for a diverse array of flora and fauna.
Armenia is home to over 3,600 species of flowering plants, many of which
are endangered and exist only in the ecosystems provided by the
dwindling forests.
>From 1994 – 2002, Armenia Tree Project focused its activities on
creating jobs through re-greening public spaces, many of which were
littered with the stumps of sacrificed trees. ATP works closely with the
residents of local institutions, such as schools, senior centers,
hospitals, and orphanages, as well as neighborhoods.
Once accepted as an ATP site, residents receive the training and tools
they need to plant and tend the trees. The relationship is based upon a
contract between ATP and the recipient institution or group, which
agrees to replace the trees at its own expense if less than 70 percent
survive.
By appealing to residents’ self interest, and using informal incentives
to promote compliance with the agreement, ATP is fostering a growing
respect for the environment through traditional value systems and needs
of the community. Residents–who had previously been plagued with
despair, while expecting the government or others to do something for
them to improve their lot–are now in a position of taking action to
make a direct impact on their immediate environment.
To date, ATP has assisted community residents in planting over 375,000
trees at 477 sites in every region of Armenia through our Community Tree
Planting program. ATP works closely with community schools to develop
environmental lessons, which are not typically part of the standard
curriculum.
The restoration of urban green spaces is the goal of ATP’s Coppicing
Program, which employs several hundred Armenians each year in seasonal
work. Coppicing is a forestry technique by which tree stumps with intact
root systems are trimmed of shoots, leaving the strongest one to grow
into an exact replica of the original tree.
To date, ATP staff has supervised the restoration of 760 acres of land
at several sites, including the Armenian Genocide Memorial, Botanical
Gardens, Victory Park, and Paros Hill, all located in Yerevan. Over
155,000 trees have been restored through ATP’s coppicing program since
1999.
The trees ATP supplies to community sites are propagated from seeds and
cuttings in our two state-of-the-art nurseries, founded in 1996 and 1998
in the refugee villages of Karin and Khatchpar. The nurseries’ 29
employees are responsible for the production of 50,000 trees each year
for planting at community sites.
The 53 species of trees growing in our nurseries are all-indigenous to
Armenia, and were chosen for their hardiness in surviving Armenia’s
harsh climate. With the opening of the new Michael and Virginia Ohanian
Environmental Education Center at ATP’s nursery in Karin village,
students from the State Agricultural Academy and elsewhere will attend
multi-media seminars and receive hands-on field practice with our staff.
In 2001, in response to a growing body of evidence published in
documents by the UN, the World Bank, and other sources regarding the
immediate and critical state of Armenia’s deforestation and path towards
desertification, ATP initiated a series of strategic planning sessions
to devise new interventions that might have a greater impact for the
people and land of Armenia.
We realized that we needed to devise innovative new programs which would
not only plant considerably more trees, but also address the widespread
poverty and despair suffered by nearly half of all Armenians. Many
Armenians live in rural villages, and are forced to strip the
surrounding forests of trees for heating and cooking fuel, as well as
for sale to commercial interests.
In Fall 2002, ATP met with the leaders of Aygut, a small, slowly dying
Armenian refugee village, comprised of 290 families. Youth and young
adults would routinely leave seeking opportunities elsewhere, and elders
longed for their lost homes and villages in Azerbaijan.
The school principal spoke of a plot of land near the river which she
had hoped would someday be an orchard, supplying income to purchase
badly needed school supplies. ATP agreed to provide technical assistance
and 500 fruit and nut trees for the site, if residents could collaborate
together to clear the land, build irrigation channels and a road to the
site, and fence it in for protection from livestock. ATP also developed
an environmental curriculum for the school and trained teachers in
presenting it.
The members of the Aygut community succeeded in completing their part of
the contract within weeks of our initial meeting. By Spring 2003, 500
fruit and nut trees were planted by school children and adults, assisted
by the US Ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, and other invitees, who
celebrated Earth Day at the new Aygut School orchard on April 22. I’m
very happy to report that I observed the first cherries blossoming on
the trees this summer.
Seventeen families also signed up to participate in a pilot project
whereby they would be trained to propagate several thousand tree seeds,
collected locally, in newly developed backyard nurseries. For each
surviving seedling that the participant will then plant in the forest,
ATP will provide a set payment.
Seven species of local tree seeds are currently being propagated, and
some have already reached a height of 12 inches and may be out planted
this fall. In this, the pilot phase of the project, 20,000 seedlings are
being grown; we hope to increase this 10 fold over the next two years by
expanding this micro-enterprise opportunity to more residents in Aygut
and other villages.
This project can potentially increase the annual income of participating
families several times over, without negatively impacting the amount of
land needed for subsistence farming. In addition, because the trees are
grown using a short-term rotation cycle of 12-18 months, the per-unit
cost is less than in our traditional nurseries, creating a win-win
situation for everyone.
There are 13 villages in the river valley where Aygut is located,
comprising 6,000 people. ATP plans to replicate programming in three new
villages in 2005, using the same methodology to promote economic,
ecological, social, and cultural development. We expect that the fruit
produced in this valley will not only contribute to residents’ food
security, but also attract the interest of businesses involved in fruit
juice production and export.
Early on in our involvement with the residents of Aygut, it became clear
that the humanitarian and development needs of this village were far
beyond ATP’s individual capacity. We took a very collaborative approach
to our work in the village, inviting other international aid
organizations and NGOs to visit the village and observe the progress
achieved over the past year.
Organizations such as UN World Food Program, UNDP, Heifer International,
Project Harmony, USDA, Peace Corps, Satsil, and Jinishian Family
Foundation, among others, have contributed expertise and support in
furthering the social and economic development of Aygut.
The Mayor recently reported that since ATP initiated programming there,
emigration from the village has halted, there has been a noticeable
improvement in the overall demeanor and perspective of villagers, and
there was even a record number of births, all indicators of a growing
sense of hope and optimism.
In addition to this innovative community development and reforestation
programming, ATP this year partnered with a local environmental NGO,
called Tsiatsan, in the city of Vanadzor, to build a six hectare
reforestation nursery that has the capacity to produce over one million
trees each year beginning in 2006. These trees will be used to reforest
the devastated hillsides around the city, which have become subject to
serious erosion and landslides over the past 13 years.
In conclusion, Armenia Tree Project is implementing its mission to
protect and restore Armenia’s forests through a unique combination of
programming that aims to plant a growing number of trees each year,
while providing opportunities for employment, sustainable economic
development, training and education.
Our goal is to empower residents to become stewards of their environment
while also enhancing their standard of living and hopes for their
children’s future. It is our hope that our decentralized approach to
developing an environmental ethic based on education, action, and
self-determination will eventually lead to a national and even regional
commitment to environmental protection and enforcement of sustainable
practice.
8. BY LATE SEPTEMBER ARMENIA TO PRESENT ITS PROPOSALS ON MILLENNIUM
CHALLENGES PROGRAM
Source: /ARKA/, September 22, 2004
By late September Armenia to present its proposals to the American side
on Millennium Challenges program.
According to the information of the Armenian Government Public and Press
Relations Department Armenian PM Andranik Manukyan during his meeting
with Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the US to Armenia
His Excellency John Marshall Evans. Margaryan stated that the Trustee
Council of Armenian Program of Foundation Millennium Challenges made
wide discussions of the proposals with business circles and public
organizations of the country. In PM’s opinion, Armenia tends toward
strengthening of positive tendencies recorded in bilateral relations,
especially when new areas of cooperation emerge, the most important of
which is inclusion of Armenia into Millennium Challenges.
In his turn, the Ambassador added that after approval by the foundation
of the Armenian proposals, there would be new opportunities for further
cooperation.
As it is mentioned in the press release, touching upon the regional
issues, the sides mentioned interests of two nations in establishing
peace, stability and prosperity on the South Caucasus. In this relation
they mentioned the necessity of further enhancement of Armenian-US
economic and political relations attaching importance to activity of
Armenian-US Intergovernmental working group on economic issues (USATAF).
Armenia was included in 16 countries list, which will be assisted by the
US in implementation economic and democratic reforms in the frames of
Millennium Challenges. The list contains mainly African, Asian, Latin
American nations as well as USSR two former republics – Armenia and
Georgia. For the implementation of the program the US envisages USD 1b
and already requested from the US Congress to allocate additional USD
2.5b for the implementation of the program in the next year.
9. ARMENIAN COMPANY AWARDED QUALITY STAR
Source: ArmenPress, September 22, 2004
Lyudmila and Hamazasp Harutunians, a couple from the town of Hrazdan,
who established and run Vordi Armen company, have been invited by
Quality Stars international convention to participate in its annual
October 11 presentation in Paris.
Vordi Armen was one of 70 companies worldwide competing for the Quality
Star. Alfonso Kassale, the president of Quality Stars, said in the
invitation letter that awarding the Quality Star to the Armenian company
is a good opportunity for it to compete in the international market and
find new partners.
Vordi Armen produces dairy products and is able to process daily around
5 tons of milk, which it buys from farmers who have 2-3 cows. The
company was founded with the help of the US Department of Agriculture
Armenia office.
10. DEPUTY PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SAYS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS BASED ON
HUMAN RIGHTS RESPECT
Source: ArmenPress, September 22, 2004
Deputy parliament chairman Tigran Torosian praised today the working
Constitution, passed in 1995, saying it has contributed significantly to
the democracy development and establishment of government institutions,
but added that it has some shortcoming constraining the country’s
progress, which he said result from Armenia’s scanty experience in
constitutional right and practice back in 1995.
He said the expected constitutional amendments, proposed by the ruling
majority, are based on constitutional guarantees ensuring the citizens’
right to exercise their freedoms. He also emphasized a clause in the
draft constitution that empowers the legislature with the right to elect
the human rights defender, vesting him or her with the power to address
to the Constitutional Court for protection of citizens’ rights.
Another important clause, according to Torosian are a chain of
amendments aimed to reform the judicial system, under which the Justice
Council, headed now by the president of the country, will be immune from
the executive power’s influence. Under the clause the Council will be
headed by one of its members. The deputy parliament chairman also said
the package of amendments seeks to create a balance among power
branches. Some other changes are expected also to introduce more clarity
in respect to local self-management bodies. Another draft amendment
would allow the parliament to endorse or reject a prime minister
nominated by the president, but the latter would be empowered to
dissolve it if his candidacies are rejected by lawmakers for three
consecutive times.
Torosian said two other packages of alternative constitutional reforms,
proposed by Arshak Sadoyan and the United Labor Party will be also
discussed in the parliament. He said the conclusion of the Council of
Europe Venice Commission on the amendments, designed by the majority,
would arrive in early October.
11. THE OTHER TREES ARE NEXT IN LINE
Source: Investigative Journalists of Armenia / HETQ Online, 22 September
2004
In Aigedzor, down the street from the former building of Yerevan State
University’s Department of Economics, right on the edge the gorge, there
are thick-trunked mulberry trees lying on the ground, chopped into
pieces. There are only trucks and cars at this construction site, not a
living soul. I asked a woman from a neighboring building, “Do you know
who this land belongs to?”
“Dear boy, it’s none of my business. I stay out of trouble [keep harm
and misfortune away]. You’ve got no business here, either. You’d better
get out of here. Don’t you see what is going on?”
Then I asked, “Didn’t you use to come here sometimes?”
“Of course we did. We would come and pick mulberries and have a rest;
the kids would play.”
Next to this construction site stand the huge private houses of our
state officials, parliament members, prosecutors, and businessmen. Does
it make any difference which one of them owns which property? These
mulberry trees are already lying on the ground; the others are next in
line.
12. THE COURT BACKS THE YEREVAN MAYOR
Source: Investigative Journalists of Armenia / HETQ Online, 22 September
2004
“We will not give you information…”
On September 16, 2004 the Court of Appeal on Civil Cases of the Republic
of Armenia heard the suit brought by the NGO Investigative Journalists
of Armenia (IJA) against the Office of the Mayor of Yerevan. Last
October, IJA chairman Edik Baghdasaryan had requested permission from
Mayor Yervand Zakharyan to see the decisions regarding land allocations
in the public park surrounding Yerevan ‘s Opera House taken from 1997 to
2003 by former mayors Vano Siradeghyan, Suren Abrahamyan, Albert
Bazeyan, and Robert Nazaryan.
Although judges’ chambers are technically off limits, it’s common in
Armenian courts for certain persons to have unimpeded access. The very
able lawyer from the Mayor’s Office, Karine Danielyan, did not miss the
opportunity to take advantage of this national tradition, and after
shooting a glare at the enemy, rushed into the judges’ chambers. After
receiving final assurances that the outcome was predetermined, she came
back, took her seat, produced a half-page note from a thick file of
documents, and handed it to the bench. In response to surprised looks,
she pronounced: “We will not give it to you.” The rest is up to the
court; it can justify its refusal however it wishes.
The three judges of the Court of Appeal on Civil Cases (Noyem Hovsepyan,
presiding) pretended to listen carefully to the arguments of the
plaintiff’s lawyer, Ara Zohrabyan. “In accordance with Article 24 of the
Constitution of Armenia, Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Articles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of
the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in
Decision-Making, and Access to Justice on environmental Matters(the
Orhus Convention), and Articles 3, 4 and 6 of the Law on the Procedure
of Consideration of the Proposals, Appeals and Complains of the Citizens
of Armenia, applicants have the right to demand information and
respondents are obliged to provide information…”.
During the hearing of the suit brought by the IJA against the Yerevan
Mayor’s Office in the Court of First Instance of the Kentron and
Nork-Marash Communities of Yerevan, Judge Gayane Karakhanyan had
recommended that the journalists apply to the mayor’s office again and
request information on specific establishments. In his new appeal to
Mayor Yervand Zakharyan, Edik Baghdasaryan listed the names of fifteen
organizations that had been granted land in mayoral decisions and
requested that he be given copies of these decisions. In response, the
IJA received a letter signed by the head of the legal department of the
Mayor’s Office, A. Sargisyan, stating that since a lawsuit was in
progress the mayor’s office would address the issue “after the court
hearing is over”. Mayor’s Office lawyer Karine Danielyan produced a
different response to our inquiry on September 16 th. “The file of
documents related to businesses that do construction work must include
the State Register licenses given to these organizations. But the names
of the founders of the organizations are not mentioned in the licenses;
therefore the Mayor’s Office cannot provide information about land
allocations to these persons.”
Ara Zohrabyan drew the court’s attention to the fact that this response
has nothing to do with the request – the association had not requested
the “names of the founders”. The judges were well aware of this, of
course, but when adinistrative interests clash with public interests and
morals, administrators always win. This judgement was no exception. What
difference will one more unlawful verdict make? Especially when the
interests of the regime are at stake.
—
*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: