A rare but diversified fauna and flora
Due to the extreme dryness and intense sunshine, vegetation is scarce at the lower altitudes. Intensely cultivated thanks to irrigation, the Ararat plain has preserved only in places traces of the original semi-desert vegetation, consisting of xerophilous plants of Mediterranean type, visible on some mountain slopes. At higher altitudes, the land is covered everywhere with green and fat grass, rich pastures that have always aroused the covetousness of nomads and provoked vendettas between Armenian farmers and Kurdish or Azeri shepherds. Burned by the summer sun, the tall grass of the pastures wither and take on ochre and pastel shades during the autumn, before being clothed in a thick white coat. Higher up, on the summits, the short grass and high altitude flowers announce the tundra and eternal snow zone: this is the domain of the mouflons, the aegagres and the hawks, the grouse, the Alpine warbler, the horned lark and the snow niverolle. The Armenian land is riddled with lava and other eruptive rocks, which have earned Armenia the nickname Karastan ("land of stones"). Overflowing with obsidian - which covers some slopes on the road to Sevan - and other stones that enrich their chromatic range, the mountains of Armenia can be considered as an open-air geological museum. A dominating mineral universe, against which the plant world is fighting an unequal battle, with the help of man: the Armenian farmer must improvise himself as a digger to rid his fields of all their "bad stones". Vineyards and fruit trees, from apricots to pomegranates, grow in abundance thanks to the generous sun, but the harsh winters do not allow the growth of southern species, such as olives or citrus fruits.
Armenian forests
Human intervention has been less beneficial to the Armenian forests, which medieval chronicles show were much more extensive. The forest cover has shrunk dramatically through deforestation, to the point where it now accounts for only 9% of the area. Outside the densely forested areas in the north-east and south, remnants of forest on the slopes of the Arakadz, at Dzaghkadzor, in the Khosrov Nature Park south of Geghard, and in places around the Sevan, bear witness to the forest splendour of the past. Theoretically protected, the forests were also seriously threatened during the winter of 1992-1993, when the inhabitants carried out savage cutting to make up for the shortages of electricity and heating, wiping out the reforestation efforts made at the end of the Soviet era. The forests, where they exist, in the north-east, with the Dilidjan National Park, in Zanguézour (Chikahogh), or in Karabagh, are no less sumptuous, especially since they have preserved many specimens of local species, such as Caucasian pine, plane tree, or beech, alongside oaks, maples, ashes, elms, hazelnuts and other wild fruit trees. One may come across deer, woodcock, robins, chickadees and other woodpeckers; or prefer to avoid the wolf, wild boar and especially the Syrian bear and lynx, the only predators of these forests, along with the panther, of which only a few rare specimens have been observed in the southern forests. In autumn, when the hunting season (which is highly regulated) begins, the Armenian forest is dressed in red and gold, reflecting the great variety of deciduous trees that make it up; this sumptuous polychromy adornment, standing out against the exceptionally intense azure blue of the sky, justifies a visit to Armenia in late September or early October (Voskeachun, literally "golden autumn" in Armenian). A setting that the current Armenian authorities are working to develop, by undertaking an ambitious programme aimed at intensifying the already significant reforestation effort, up to doubling the country's forest cover by 2050.Trees worthy of respect
In Armenia, the tree (dzar) enjoys the respect due to what is rare. It is highly protected in national parks such as Dilidjan National Park in the north, Khosrov Forest in the centre and Chikahogh Park in the south. In non-forested areas, it embodies the victory of life over the stones that line the windswept high plateaus; some localities revere their sometimes centuries-old trees as guardians of their memory, such as the venerable 2,000-year-old plane tree at Tnjiri in Karabagh. The Armenian arts have also paid vibrant tributes to the tree: iconography abounds in sculpted or pictorial representations of the "tree of life", which symbolizes the mediation between heaven and earth. This link has not been severed. Even today, the tree is still very present in the life of Armenians, especially in religious life, as can be seen in the multicoloured cloth ribbons they tie to the branches of certain trees, often near places of worship, and which are the guarantors of their vows. Many woods and parks bear witness to the symbolic power of trees: for example, in Yerevan, on the hill of Dzidzernakapert, where the memorial of the 1915 genocide stands, it is customary for guests of the Republic to honour the memory of the victims by planting a tree. And in April 2020, while the country was facing a coronavirus epidemic, President Armen Sarkissian launched a project to create a vast park with as many trees as the number of genocide victims (1.5 million). A more recent tradition, that of "Red Saturdays", when volunteer brigades from the Young Communist League went out to plant trees in the countryside, has been rehabilitated and brought up to date in the form of the "Plant a Tree" operation. For a month of the year, Armenians are invited to follow the example of their leaders and politicians who use shovels and spades to reforest the country, while associations sometimes work on a voluntary basis to reforest the land. For example, the American NGO Armenian Tree project, founded in 1994, has planted millions of trees in city parks and in the country's mountains, contributing to its biodiversity while providing work for the local population.
