From Armenia in brief: Government to update Armenian Red Book

Published: Saturday August 30, 2008

According to Armenpress, Armenia's government has allocated 31 million AMD for the ministry of nature protection to prepare an updated version of the Armenian Red Book. The Red Book is a two-volume directory of Armenia's fauna and it is anticipated that it will be released by the end of 2008.

The head of the ministry department responsible for biodiversity and water resources protection issues, Tatiana Danielian, said that specialists from the ministry will cooperate with the Biology and Zoology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences to learn about the condition of those species which are on the brink of extinction and to initiate programs to ensure their protection and reproduction. According to the official, 200 species of plants and 10 species of animals are to be included in the Red Book for the first time.