Assessment of Land Pollution and Policy Analysis for Secure Development Strategies in Armenia

Abstract

Environmental security and sustainability is a major issue for development of Eastern European and post-soviet countries. Economical development and technological change must be balanced with effective environmental solutions. Secure and sustainable development in is connected with several, mostly common problems. In Armenia secure development policies are focused on several problems: Economic and social problems specific to countries in transition (overall decline of economic activities, severe budget constraints, high domestic and foreign indebtedness, institutional weakness, etc); Geopolitical instability (neighborhood problems, blockade, ethnic wars, political upheavals, etc) and their impact on environment; Soil degradation and desertification; Unequal distribution of water resources; Deforestation problems; High occurrence of natural disasters. Armenia is stepping towards implementation of secure development strategies and has real shifts, meanwhile on the way to sustainable solutions there are several underlined obstacles. The paper is focused on the analysis of current situation with legal and institutional framework and development policies. Nowadays soil degradation and desertification are key problems for the Republic of Armenia. The problem of desertification in Armenia, on which is focused the paper, is a typical case, around which the process of secure development in the region could be observed.