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ATP Kicks Off 20th Anniversary with Tree Plantings All Over Armenia, Artsakh
By Contributor on April 29, 2014
YEREVAN'Spring is in the air and Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has
already beautified 110 communities by planting 22,000 trees through
its Community Tree Planting (CTP) program. The first project took
place in Artsakh where Syrian-Armenian refugees planted ATP fruit
trees in Kovsakan. Each year hundreds of communities are given fruit
and decorative trees through the CTP program. This year, seeking to
provide fruit to soldiers in Artsakh, the program included plantings
at six military bases.
Vache Thomassian (standing left) joined dozens of volunteers on April
18 to plant the first trees in the Sose and Allen Memorial Forest,
part of a successful social media campaign between ATP and Sose and
Allen's Legacy Foundation
A second component of ATP's work is forestry. In a bittersweet launch
of this year's forestry planting, hundreds of volunteers joined forces
in Stepanavan to plant the first seedlings in a memorial forest for
Sose Thomassian and Allen Yekikian. Friends and family of the young
couple, whose lives were tragically cut short last year, joined with
volunteers from Birthright Armenia and Armenian Volunteer Corps to
plant the initial 20,000 trees in the forest.
`The planting of these 42,000 trees this spring has brought the total
number of trees planted by ATP to 4,497,869 since 1994,' reported ATP
Managing Director Tom Garabedian. Reflecting on the organization's
milestone anniversary this year, he continued, `Throughout our 20
years of planting, ATP has forged invaluable partnerships with people
along with dozens of organizations, businesses, and institutions to
advance projects that beautify the environment.'
Collaboration with KPMG Armenia helped to green the Kentavr
hippotherapy (equine therapy) center in Ushi village this season;
Byblos Bank facilitated planting at the Poqr Mher military educational
center for children; and the Ararat Cultural Center joined ATP to
conduct a planting adjacent to Zvartnots Temple. As in previous years,
ATP provided trees for the Paros Foundation that supports mothers and
children, orphans, and needy families.
Plantings at schools included Yerevan State University and the State
Engineering University of Armenia and in a partnership with the
Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets
(FPWC), a planting at their new Eco-Training Center in Urtsador.
In a relaunch of a program designed to restore trees and create new
jobs, ATP hired 35 residents from Gyumri and Azatan to conduct
coppicing, a traditional method of woodland management to regenerate
tree stumps. ATP has joined with the local governments to distribute
the wood cuttings to needy families for fuel.
`I am extremely proud to see the coppicing project reinitiated,'
Garabedian said. `It represents a collaboration between ATP and two
local communities, provides income to 35 seasonal workers in those
communities, beautifies and strengthens the trees that are coppiced,
and delivers renewable energy supplies to low income families.
Everyone benefits.'
A third component of ATP initiatives is to provide environmental
education to students, local residents, and partner organizations. The
Michael and Virginia Ohanian Center for Environmental Studies, which
sits at the foot of ATP's Hrant Dink Memorial Forest in Margahovit,
houses classrooms and conference space, along with a small dormitory
that can accommodate people for multiday conferences on the
environment.
Last month, the Ohanian Center opened its doors to a two-week training
on waste management organized by the German Society for International
Cooperation (GIZ) and conducted by environmental expert Martin
Gabriel. ATP's environmental education staff members Nvard Gevorgyan
and Gayane Margaryan supported the training with breakout sessions and
presentations. More than 60 people participated in the conference
activities.
ATP's mission is to assist the Armenian people in using trees to
improve their standard of living and protect the environment, guided
by the desire to promote self-sufficiency, aid those with the fewest
resources first, and conserve the indigenous ecosystem. ATP's three
major programs are tree planting, environmental education, and
sustainable development initiatives. For more information, visit
www.armeniatree.org.
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/04/29/atp/
By Contributor on April 29, 2014
YEREVAN'Spring is in the air and Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has
already beautified 110 communities by planting 22,000 trees through
its Community Tree Planting (CTP) program. The first project took
place in Artsakh where Syrian-Armenian refugees planted ATP fruit
trees in Kovsakan. Each year hundreds of communities are given fruit
and decorative trees through the CTP program. This year, seeking to
provide fruit to soldiers in Artsakh, the program included plantings
at six military bases.
Vache Thomassian (standing left) joined dozens of volunteers on April
18 to plant the first trees in the Sose and Allen Memorial Forest,
part of a successful social media campaign between ATP and Sose and
Allen's Legacy Foundation
A second component of ATP's work is forestry. In a bittersweet launch
of this year's forestry planting, hundreds of volunteers joined forces
in Stepanavan to plant the first seedlings in a memorial forest for
Sose Thomassian and Allen Yekikian. Friends and family of the young
couple, whose lives were tragically cut short last year, joined with
volunteers from Birthright Armenia and Armenian Volunteer Corps to
plant the initial 20,000 trees in the forest.
`The planting of these 42,000 trees this spring has brought the total
number of trees planted by ATP to 4,497,869 since 1994,' reported ATP
Managing Director Tom Garabedian. Reflecting on the organization's
milestone anniversary this year, he continued, `Throughout our 20
years of planting, ATP has forged invaluable partnerships with people
along with dozens of organizations, businesses, and institutions to
advance projects that beautify the environment.'
Collaboration with KPMG Armenia helped to green the Kentavr
hippotherapy (equine therapy) center in Ushi village this season;
Byblos Bank facilitated planting at the Poqr Mher military educational
center for children; and the Ararat Cultural Center joined ATP to
conduct a planting adjacent to Zvartnots Temple. As in previous years,
ATP provided trees for the Paros Foundation that supports mothers and
children, orphans, and needy families.
Plantings at schools included Yerevan State University and the State
Engineering University of Armenia and in a partnership with the
Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets
(FPWC), a planting at their new Eco-Training Center in Urtsador.
In a relaunch of a program designed to restore trees and create new
jobs, ATP hired 35 residents from Gyumri and Azatan to conduct
coppicing, a traditional method of woodland management to regenerate
tree stumps. ATP has joined with the local governments to distribute
the wood cuttings to needy families for fuel.
`I am extremely proud to see the coppicing project reinitiated,'
Garabedian said. `It represents a collaboration between ATP and two
local communities, provides income to 35 seasonal workers in those
communities, beautifies and strengthens the trees that are coppiced,
and delivers renewable energy supplies to low income families.
Everyone benefits.'
A third component of ATP initiatives is to provide environmental
education to students, local residents, and partner organizations. The
Michael and Virginia Ohanian Center for Environmental Studies, which
sits at the foot of ATP's Hrant Dink Memorial Forest in Margahovit,
houses classrooms and conference space, along with a small dormitory
that can accommodate people for multiday conferences on the
environment.
Last month, the Ohanian Center opened its doors to a two-week training
on waste management organized by the German Society for International
Cooperation (GIZ) and conducted by environmental expert Martin
Gabriel. ATP's environmental education staff members Nvard Gevorgyan
and Gayane Margaryan supported the training with breakout sessions and
presentations. More than 60 people participated in the conference
activities.
ATP's mission is to assist the Armenian people in using trees to
improve their standard of living and protect the environment, guided
by the desire to promote self-sufficiency, aid those with the fewest
resources first, and conserve the indigenous ecosystem. ATP's three
major programs are tree planting, environmental education, and
sustainable development initiatives. For more information, visit
www.armeniatree.org.
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/04/29/atp/