The Armenian Studies Program web page is sponsored by a grant from
The Bertha and John Garabedian Charitable
Foundation, Fresno.
Jeff Masarjian has been the executive director of the Armenian Tree Project since 1991 and on Tuesday, November 18, he gave an interesting
lecture on “The Dangers Facing Armenia’s Natural Treasures: Current Risks and Opportunities,” as part of the Fall Lecture Series of
the Armenian Studies Program.
According to the ATP 2007 Annual Report “The Armenian Tree project (ATP), a non-profit program based
in Watertown, MA and Yerevan conducts vitally important environmental projects in Armenia’s impoverished and deforested zones and
seeks to support in advancing its reforestation mission.” ATP was founded in 1994 and since then has made enormous efforts to prevent
desertification that threatens the
Masarjian has brought experience
in clinical social work and organizational management in the non-profit sector to ATP. Over the past seven years, he has actively
been involved in implementing three initiatives: planting trees at urban and rural sites, providing environmental education and advocacy,
and community and socioeconomic development and poverty reduction. He often travels to
Masarjian used a power-point presentation to discuss
the different projects that ATP is involved with in
Lake Sevan has also been impacted because of hazardous
toxic waste. There are few trees that surround the lake and runoff from agricultural fertilizer and occasionally raw sewage have also
been dumped into the lake. There is now a need to raise the water level in the lake, so that these wastes can be filtered and cleaned.
There have been numerous positive accomplishments in Armenia for ATP, such as new forestry preservation laws, developed in cooperation
with the government. The Prime Minister of Armenia, Tigran Sargsyan, has shown genuine interest in environmental protection. There
are also Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Armenia who area actively involved in environmental issues.
Masarjian has an optimistic
outlook for ATP, but it can only happen with local and national awareness, as well as by implementing key initiatives. This also means
that local government and the local population must get involved in this process and enforce the legal codes in order to prevent the
desertification of Armenia.
You can visit ATP online at www.armeniatree.org.
