Closed (non-UNDP) Projects in Armenia

The first step toward improved environmental and water management came in 1996, with the Lake Sevan Action Plan. The Plan was completed in 1998 and identified a range of actions to address restoration and protection of the lake.

In 1998-99 a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) was developed. The NEAP defined clear priority actions, many in the water sector. In water sector, NEAP included: development of an integrated water resources master plan; development a legislative and policy framework to support integrated sustainable water resources management; enhancement of local institutional capacity to implement environmental regulations in water sector; improvement of cooperation and collaboration among various stakeholders and agencies; development of a comprehensive water balance tool; and development of a national water supply and wastewater treatment policy plan. The NEAP included a list of specific projects designed to meet these established priorities.

Within the program, the water resources of Armenia were evaluated, principles of water policy were developed, a program of institutional reforms of the management of water resources was recommended, and an outline of water supply and demand management was suggested. The concept of river basin management was also proposed, including introduction of annual and long-range planning procedures for water resources.

The USAID funded Program was implemented during the period of April 2001 - December 2004, and focused on the following areas: (i) improving national framework for integrated water resources management; (ii) increasing capacity for water resources monitoring to support integrated water resources management; and (iii) increasing local participation in integrated water resources management.

The Program was implemented from 2000-2004 and included the South Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The overall objective of the project was to increase dialogue at technical level for sustainable water resources management. The project focused on water quantity and quality data management and ex-change issues, and as well, on building capacities for integrated river basin planning at the local level.

The general activities included support to the Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Agency in each country with the following tasks: • Monitoring and data exchange for hydrological and water quality data; • Integrated river basin planning to increase the participation in river basin planning; and • Institutional framework, including a summary of legislation and policies in each country.

It was designed to test the UN Guidelines for monitoring and assessment of transboundary waters. The program provided some water quality monitoring along the Kura River in the three countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The project for “Support to the Implementation of Environmental Policies and NEAPs in the NIS‿, had as one of its tasks to prepare recommendations for developing new national water quality standards and for improving water permitting in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.