Minister Hakob Simidyan and Deputy Minister Aram Meymaryan with the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Mr. Victor Richter paid a working visit to "Sevan" National Park, "SEVAMOD2. Creation of science-based management tools for Lake Sevan. In order to get acquainted with the current works of the Armenia" project and to participate in the process of sampling water from the lake.
The minister thanked the German government and Ambassador Richter for always keeping environmental issues in the spotlight and for their continuous support. The minister also considered the fact that the visit coincided with the greening of Lake Sevan to be important. The period of activation of blue-green algae is coming to an end. The minister presented the problem and the reasons for its occurrence to the ambassador.
The visit started with a boat tour in Lake Sevan, during which Levon Azizyan, director of the "Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center" SNCO, Gayane Shahnazaryan, deputy director, Amalya Misakyan, head of the SNCO's Hydrology Service, Sargis Aghayan, director of the Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology of the National Academy of Sciences of RA, and the center's Applied Gor Gevorgyan, head of the hydroecology laboratory, presented reports on the progress of the project.
Within the framework of cooperation with the Federal Republic of Germany, the SEVAMOD2 Armenian-German scientific research project was implemented, which was financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science of Germany (Funding ID 01DK20038), and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Armenia, represented by "Hayhydromet" SNCO, 60% co-financed chemical the amount needed for analyses.
The program had a duration of three years: 2020-23.
All the goals of the project were fulfilled, it made it possible to evaluate the hydrodynamic conditions of Lake Sevan, the characteristics of the movement of nutrients through modeling. In addition to the planned 1D model, a 2D modeling of the lake (based on the CE-QUAL-W2 two-dimensional lake model) with hydrodynamic and ecological components was also carried out.
The changes in the hydrodynamic conditions of Lake Sevan under the conditions of climate change and the changes in the processes taking place in the lake under its influence were evaluated.
Remote sensing application capabilities, assessment and analysis were also an important component of the project.
With the implementation of the project, it became possible to start regular research and monitoring activities in Lake Sevan.
After the reports, specialists of "Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center" SNCO took water samples from the lake to find out the degree of water transparency and oxygen content in it.
The visit continued with a visit to the Sevan Hydrometeorological Observatory (Sevan HOD) of the Hydrology Service of "Hayhydromet" SNCO, during which the minister and the ambassador were accompanied by Gegharkunik Marz Governor Karen Sargsyan.
During the visit, the priorities of the RA government in the field, climate, biodiversity, environmental monitoring and a wide range of other issues were discussed. The ambassador was interested in the implemented programs and events.
It was agreed to make such meetings and field visits more frequent.