Date: 13 September 2012
Lake Sevan is the largest fresh water lake in the Southern Caucasus. The total surface area of its basin is about 5,000 km2, while the lake itself covers 1,250 km2. Since the 1930s, unsustainable utilization of lake water for irrigation and hydropower generation disrupted the ecological balance of Lake Sevan. Due to the heavy industrial exploitation between 1933 and 2000, the water level dropped by 19.6 meters and the volume decreased from 58.5 to 32.5 billion cubic meters, a decline of almost 45%.
To ensure conservation of these two subspecies, the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP), implemented by UNDP, supports a restoration project to rehabilitate the ecosystem and biodiversity of Lake Sevan. The project “Creating
Global Eco, a community-based environmental organization, which receives significant support from the community members, local administration, as well as other partners, is the GEF SGP grantee and has spearheaded this project and supported its implementation at the local level. The area identified for project implementation is located 9-10 km south of Lake Sevan and about 2,000 meters above sea level, with the fish hatchery situated at a distance of 500 meters from the interstate road. All of these factors provide great potential for ecological, ethnological and agro-tourism development as a means to stimulate biodiversity friendly enterprise in the region. In this regard, the project will promote ecologically clean agricultural products offered by community residents, and establish an amateur fishpond to attract eco-tourism. “This initiative will certainly help to solve social problems of the community and return trout to Lake Sevan” noted Mr. Vardan Poghosyan, head of the Geghhovit community.
Currently, the establishment of the hatchery is in progress and will be completed by the end of 2012. The fishery complex established by the project includes an incubation facility with relevant fish species, external fry raising pools, as well as the amateur fishing pond with non-endemic species. Release of the first group of juvenile fish to the basin’s rivers and Lake Sevan is scheduled for Fall 2013.
Apart from global environmental benefits attained from rehabilitation of endangered endemic species and restoration of the fish stock of Lake Sevan, the project is also contributing to the improvement of local livelihoods. Specifically, the project has helped create 10-15 temporary and 3-5 permanent jobs, provide the fishery outflow water to 30 community households for irrigation, and create alternative sources of income through promotion of eco-tourism services. Furthermore, the project strives to increase understanding among the communities of the importance and value of biodiversity at the local level as well as increase knowledge on biodiversity-friendly livelihood practices.
The project substantially complements the government’s environmental policy and strategic objectives and serves as a practical model that creates prerequisites for sustainable management of biological resources and poverty reduction at the community level.
Background for editors
About the GEF
The GEF unites 182 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. Today the GEF is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. An independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.
Since 1991, GEF has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $10 billion in grants and leveraging $47 billion in co-financing for over 2,800 projects in over 168 countries. For more information, visit www.thegef.org.
About the GEF Small Grants Programme
Launched in 1992, GEF SGP supports activities of nongovernmental and community-based organizations in developing countries towards climate change abatement, conservation of biodiversity, protection of international waters, reduction of the impact of persistent organic pollutants and prevention of land degradation while generating sustainable livelihoods.
Since its creation, GEF SGP has provided over 14,500 grants to communities in over 125 developing countries. Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as a corporate programme, GEF SGP is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of the GEF partnership, and is executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
Media contacts:
- Tamara Tschentscher, KM and Communications Consultant, GEF SGP,
tamara.tschentscher@undp.org, 646-781-4353 - John Diamond, Senior Communication Officer& Spokesperson, GEF
jdiamond@TheGEF.org, (202) 458-7953