Author(s): Levon Levonyan; Armine Simonyan
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Climate change; Water resources; Infrastructure; Management; Adaptation
Abstract: Like almost all the countries in the world Armenia will face the consequences of climate change. Climate change in Armenia is predicted to produce significant variations in temperature, precipitation amount and their spatial and temporal distributions. These changes already have and will continue to have even more profound effects on availability of water resources thus impacting agricultural production in the country. Warmer temperatures, changing weather patterns, precipitation levels, frequent droughts and reduced access to water will make it difficult to keep the production level with available limited amount of water resource and without improved management of water infrastructure based on the adequate mitigation and adaptation measures. According to the recent calculations Armenia possesses around 7. 2 billion cubic meters of renewable surface water resources. However, water resources are not equally distributed throughout the country, and are scarce in the densely populated areas. There is also significant seasonal and annual variability in the river run-off. Moreover, the country is prone to many types of natural disasters – earthquakes, landslides, hailstorms, droughts, strong winds and floods, which occur frequently and cause significant damage to irrigated areas. From the perspective of agricultural operations Armenia is considered as a high-risk zone due to quite limited land and water resources, as well as high probability of different emergency events, which affect agricultural production and hinder sustainable development in general. The rural population is highly dependent on a stable climate for both food and income, and the urban population relies on agricultural productivity of the country’s lands. Currently, when Armenia implements several projects aimed at expanding the arable areas and productivity of active agricultural lands, the climate change will likely be a force working in the opposite direction, leading to reduction of irrigated areas and directly impacting the farmer ’s incomes. Hence it is crucial to reveal potential adverse consequences, develop and undertake appropriate mitigation measures as well as prioritize their implementation to support overall economic stability of the country. To ensure stability of Armenia’s economy and mitigate climate-induced damages it is necessary to develop a number of adaptation measures, which shall include but not limited to supporting the research needed to reduce uncertainties about likely climate impacts; developing an action plan to address major issues related to impact from climate change; providing education and technical support to farmers, etc. The paper identifies the climate change impacts considered to be of greatest concern to Armenia, analyzes the situation in water sector (where climate is an important factor), presents key adaptation measures to help Armenia adapt to climate change while advancing socio-economic development aims. This may require water diversion between rivers, replacement of existing infrastructure, construction of dams, expansion of water delivery system, as well as technical support to help farmers in adjusting the planting seasons and crops, installing irrigation equipment, adopting water saving technologies and applying efficient water use practices.
Year: 2013