Reports on Environment and Urban Development for Alaverdy

GEO ALAVERDI: ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Length of streets and street passes Area of streets, street passes and squares

41km, 27 streets 320 thousand m 2

Number of bridges

18

Area of public parks and gardens Length of illuminated streets Number of light bulbs Number of storm sewers Boulevards and leisure zones

102ha 16km

125

10, length = 5846m

3 6

Monuments

Dams

8986 line meters

7. Summary of local socio-economic factors The economic sector of Alaverdi is very weak, despite the fact that the region has a number of signi fi cant factors that could contribute to its economic development: favorable environment (mild climate, forests, etc.), human resources (specialists, who are experienced in mining, agricultural and other production) and natural resources. Besides, the market demand for the growing in these area agricultural products is high. The mechanisms necessary for the reprocessing of raw materials and manufacture of fi nal products, as well as the necessary markets are lacking; low level of production in the sectors of cattle breeding and land cultivation is registered. The reasons for that are the low awareness on modern technologies, as well as the lack of well-organized farming systems and bank crediting mechanisms. Taking into account the weakly developed economy of Alaverdi, all the efforts must be focused on the establishment of production of agricultural and dairy products, as well as development of tourism. This will allow not only to decrease the level of unemployment in the communities (female population partially), but also serve as a fi rm basis for the sustainable development Taking into account the rich forested areas around Alaverdi and the existence of a large number of historical monuments, tourism has been identi fi ed as one of the priority sectors of development for the region. That objective can be performed through improvement of community infrastructure and development of services, which require additional training and capacity building. The demographic indicators ofAlaverdi are also concerning.Within a period of 20 years the number of the population has decreased by 40%. Most of the young families and the labor force have left the city because of the socio-economic conditions. Besides, the seasonal migration in the region, mainly to the Russian Federation, for job search has become traditional.

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CHAPTER 2. SOCIO – ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONTEXT

Environmental Knowledge for Change