An expert estimates that 60 hectares of Shikahogh forest have been cut since 2022 to build positions and roads. Farming has effectively stopped in nearby fields. Armenian authorities see border delimitation as a way to address the territorial issue.
Environmental expert Ayser Ghazaryan estimates that Azerbaijani forces have cut 60 hectares of forest in Armenia’s protected Shikahogh reserve since 2022 to build positions and roads. He also estimates that Azerbaijan controls 3,000 hectares of the reserve’s more than 12,000 hectares. Ghazaryan gave the figures in an interview with Azatutyun Armenia.
The changes follow the September 2022 Azerbaijani attack in Armenia’s southern Syunik region. Azerbaijani-controlled positions now stand near villages beside the reserve; Nerkin Hand is surrounded on three sides. Farming has effectively stopped in fields near the affected villages.
Azatutyun describes satellite images that show roads and structures where green areas appeared before September 2022. Ghazaryan describes the affected area as valuable primary forest—forest not previously affected by people—and says other plant and animal species have also been harmed. His 60-hectare figure is an estimate, not an independently measured loss figure; it does not provide an independently measured baseline for comparison.
Shikahogh resident Andranik Margaryan says security and economic problems have emptied his village, where he says only one schoolchild remains.
Analysis
Armenian authorities see border delimitation—agreeing where the border runs—as a way to resolve the territorial issue. Azatutyun says the two countries delimited 12 kilometres of border in Tavush in 2024 but have not delimited another stretch since. Margaryan doubts that delimitation will bring a withdrawal from the areas under Azerbaijani control, though he does not rule out a negotiated solution.
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Asked about tree cutting months earlier, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he had received no such information. He said Armenia would respond if it received information about trees being cut on its sovereign territory or an ecological disaster. Whether border delimitation will change control of land around Shikahogh remains unresolved.
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