Journal of the Bulgarian Geographical Society 53: 49-66, doi: 10.3897/jbgs.e157780
Advancing protected area management planning in Armenia: A case study of Sevan National Park
Arsen Gasparyan‡§, Astghik Danielyan|, Aida Papikyan‡, Arman Kandaryan¶, Alla Aleksanyan#§¤, Areg S. Karapetyan«§‡ American University of Armenia (AUA) Acopian Center for the Environment, Yerevan, Armenia§ Institute of Botany after A. Takhtajyan NAS RA, Yerevan, Armenia| United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Yerevan, Armenia¶ WWF Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia# Armenian State University of Economics, Yerevan, Armenia¤ International Scientific Educational Center of NAS RA, Yerevan, Armenia« Soluton LLC, Yerevan, Armenia
Corresponding author: Alla Aleksanyan ( alla.alexanyan@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Hristina Prodanova © Arsen Gasparyan, Astghik Danielyan, Aida Papikyan, Arman Kandaryan, Alla Aleksanyan, Areg S. Karapetyan. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Gasparyan A, Danielyan A, Papikyan A, Kandaryan A, Aleksanyan A, Karapetyan AS (2025) Advancing protected area management planning in Armenia: A case study of Sevan National Park. Journal of the Bulgarian Geographical Society 53: 49-66. https://doi.org/10.3897/jbgs.e157780 |  |
Abstract
This article presents the case study of Sevan National Park to showcase the evolving conservation planning and management of protected areas in Armenia. We highlight the first application of the basic principles of the Open Standards for the Practice of Con-servation in the country, which has been piloted within the Park’s management planning process. We also address recent institutional reforms, including the establishment of the EcoPatrol service, to examine their implications for centralized protection. Further-more, efforts to align the management plan of Sevan National Park with the EU Biodiver-sity Strategy 2030, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the feasibility of designating the area as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve are discussed. Our findings demonstrate how Sevan National Park can serve as a potential model for adaptive con-servation planning across Armenia. Ultimately, the case of Sevan National Park provides valuable insights for countries aiming to bridge ecological conservation with inclusive and sustainable development.
Keywords
Biodiversity, biosphere reserve, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, management effectiveness, nature conservation