Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan presented the draft "Program of the Government of the Republic of Armenia for 2021-2026" for discussion.) Progress and Results Report for 2022.
In terms of priority areas of environmental protection in the context of six years, 60 measures are envisaged to be implemented, 36 of which will be carried out during 2022.
The rate of payment for the use of natural resources in the amount of 0.1 drams for each cubic meter of surface water use for hydropower purposes has been established, which will provide an additional annual inflow to the state budget of about 620 million drams: Since January 1, 2024, a mandatory requirement has also been established to account for environmental runoff through online data transmission for hydroelectric power plants, etc. Regarding the pollution of Lake Sevan, the minister said that 46.60 hectares of the lake's coastal territory were cleaned in 2022, 300 hectares are planned to be cleaned this year.
In 2022, 165 million cubic meters were released from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes-less than the annual amount of water set by law at 170 million cubic meters.