Refusal for Greening via Active Citizen

• Status: response received (26.12.2025), follow-up is being drafted.

In the autumn of 2025, supporters of Kanach Yerevan sent a series of requests to restore trees where they used to grow but were cut down for some reason. We are not discussing the reasons for the removal of the trees—we assume they were valid. The decision of the Council of Elders No. 36-N of 18.12.2009 states that in this case, the trees must be restored, which was not done.

The responses to the requests sent to Active Citizen, unfortunately, cite the lack of a water supply and the absence of official planting plans for this location. We believe that these grounds are not permissible under the law, and the city has the technical capability to water the trees, for example, with standard water trucks and/or watering bags.

On December 12, 2025 a letter was sent to the Mayor of Yerevan, Tigran Avinyan, asking him to clarify the law to the employees working with Active Citizen and to finally approve the said applications by replacing the stumps with real trees.

On December 26, 2025 a response was received from the Department of Environmental Protection, which you can download here, signed by the acting head of department, Sirarpi Haykazyan:

In response to your application № D-139934-25 addressed to Yerevan Municipality on 16.12.2025, I inform you that in the green plantings of Yerevan city—specifically street plantings—during street reconstruction and concurrent with the installation of irrigation systems, cut trees are replaced with new tree species possessing high ecological functionality.

Sometimes, due to various reasons, unique hazardous trees fall or are felled, the replacement of which, conditioned by various circumstances, may be implemented by "Landscaping and Environmental Protection" CNCO within a certain timeframe.

This response completely ignores our proposal to use modern arboricultural solutions—such as watering bags or existing water carrier trucks—to restore trees in neighborhoods without active irrigation.

The City’s response indicates a policy of 'wholesale replacement': they prioritize planting only when installing new pipes during major street reconstruction. This implies that the requested empty tree wells will remain empty until the entire street undergoes renovation. Furthermore, waiting for major groundworks presents a critical risk: the trenching required for new irrigation often severs the roots of surviving mature trees, leading to their decline and eventual removal.

While we support infrastructure upgrades, Article 3 of the Yerevan City law on green zone management mandates the continuous reproduction of greenery. Waiting indefinitely for major construction violates this principle and leaves our streets bare for years. The City's response confirms they currently lack a protocol for 'Spot Replacement'—planting individual trees supported by mobile watering solutions.

We are working on a follow-up explicitly requesting spot replacement using existing technologies.