The Ijevan site represents a case study with low pressures and threats to target objects, a significant forest (and pasture) area under active management, and almost no human operations taking place. The current ESMP is based on the 2023–2024 Ijevan (AM0000005) recommended borders and revised list of species and habitats, under the EU4Environment Program.
The MP key components involve the conservation degree assessment and conservation objects status analysis. For specific habitats and species, the pressures and threats are further analyzed and respective management measures are proposed. The MP recommendations for a 10-year time span are presented through an Action Plan (Annex B). The Action Plan also includes a midterm evaluation report. The biodiversity information presented is mainly from desktop analysis with no specific field sampling/monitoring taking place (since 2016 for the needs of the current SDF – to be modified) but also includes new data from personal experts’ field investigations (for example, for avifauna).
Finally, during the implementation of communication, education, and awareness raising, a training/consultation meeting with local stakeholders was undertaken in mid-March 2024 for a broad and open public engagement. The local views were considered during the current MP review and finalization. MoE is advised to consider reviewing, finalizing, and proceeding on approval of the current ESMP.
The current ESMP is a demonstration case for Armenia, applying a locally adopted EU-Natura 2000 MP method and similar code lists during assessing and presenting the site conservation degree, conservation objectives, and conservation measures.