NOYEMBERYAN, AUGUST 11, ARMENPRESS. One of the major tasks of Tavush province is to eliminate logging, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting with the Noyemberyan community residents, adding that the government must propose alternative solutions to this issue. “Eventually, we should agree on the fact that the forest, that we cut and sell, has much greater wealth and value, than the money obtained from them, in addition, we also cause damage to the environment. I understand that the village residents need firewood, my remarks relate to those who consider cutting forest as their business”, PM Pashinyan said.

He expressed his surprise over the fact that wood, boards and logs are exported from Armenia. Meanwhile, he said nature can serve for boosting tourism, small and medium business. “Today we are thinking about one thing: what to do in order to propose alternative to our compatriots in order to cut them from the forest so that they will not cut it”, the PM noted.

He said there are more affordable technologies for fuel, people can use it as an alternative for solving the problem of heating the house. “Each tree, that is being cut, needs 50-60 years to become a tree. The nature can be a great impetus for tourism. Yenokavan, which was one of the weakest villages of Ijevan, today has become a regional tourism center. Imagine if the forests there were cut, today this would not happen. We shouldn’t go to easy solutions, cut and sell, or cut and fire. It’s a slow weapon of self-destruction. We also need to change the prospect of cutting for our kids. We should establish production, earn money via tourism instead”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan