Viva for Armenia with “My Forest Armenia”

Long-term strategy: every day is Earth Day

For 19 years, Viva, which implements environmental programs in various regions of Armenia, has made persistent efforts to promote “green thinking”. Its long-term projects focus not just on traditional environmental protection actions like tree planting, but also on addressing global challenges like desertification, landslides, and enhancing water resources through afforestation.

Viva and “My Forest Armenia” are partnering to pursue the shared goal. What has the three-year collaboration achieved? By the way, this is the period when the seedlings require the most care.  There is a significant accomplishment: in high mountainous sites where even four-wheel drive vehicles hardly operate, it has been possible to assure the desired result of survival rate, laying the foundation for a future forest. When selecting areas, the humidity, precipitation levels, location, and altitude were considered.

“Businesses have a long way to go to live in harmony with nature, and of course they can play a huge role in recovering it. Earth Day is an excellent reminder of our obligation to Mother Nature, but we must also bear this responsibility on other days of the year. Consistency is the most crucial key to success,” said Lilith Martirosyan, Deputy Director of “My Forest Armenia”.

To support afforestation and reforestation in Armenia, which has only 11% forest cover, Viva created a named forest on the Jrashen community’s land in 2022. The company’s employees volunteered for the work. In the following years, reforestation activities were carried out in two other communities: Urasar and Lernajur, involving local residents in all planting efforts. In total, around 38,000 trees have been planted.

Volunteerism and community involvement have resulted in tremendous progress in these three Lori region communities over the past three years. 75% of the main employees of “My Forest Armenia”, the environmental non-governmental organization, are Lori residents. All afforestation areas were planted with local forest tree species such as wild pear, apple, oak, pine, maple, etc., grown in the organization’s nurseries. Each season, up to 200 local workers were hired.