Opening Phase of FORACCA in Lernavan
As part of the Opening Phase of the new SDC-funded “Forest Restoration and Climate Change in Armenia” (FORACCA) project, a Swiss delegation comprising Marco Pütz and Dominik Braunschweiger representatives from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Thomas Probst, Sebastian Bellwald and Raphael Portmann representatives from the private consultancy Planval, and representatives from Zoï Environment Network visited Armenia. They conducted two collaborative workshops on “Toolbox for Climate-Resilient Development of Local Communities in Armenia” in Aparan consolidated community and Lernavan settlement of Spitak consolidated community.
The workshops were part of FORACCA's plan to increase the climate resilience of local communities and identify and prioritize effective climate change adaptation measures. The objective of these initial exploratory workshops was to assess the most significant impacts, consequences, and challenges related to climate change and identify both barriers and opportunities for effective adaptation measures. The workshops were led by two experts from Planval Consultancy and conceptually built on similar exercises conducted in mountainous communities in Switzerland. In Lernavan the workshop was facilitated by Shen NGO with the participation of employees Anahit Navasardyan, Sasun Mamajanyan and Yester Grigoryan, and and in Aparan it was facilitated by ARNAP foundation.
The workshops followed a participatory approach, with the main work carried out in small working groups consisting of 5-8 community members. SDC, WSL, and Planval were very satisfied with the results and positively impressed by the local communities’ environmental consciousness and motivation to become more climate-resilient. Based on the valuable experiences in Aparan and Lernavan, the experts at Planval, ARNAP and “Shen” will adapt the nature of the workshops to tailor them specifically to the Armenian context. SDC intends to continue working with the Lernavan settlement and Aparan community during the main phase of the FORACCA project.
