Podcast

Varant Meguerditchian, the Executive Director of the Mining Legislation Reform Institute spoke to EVN Report about the weak laws regulating mining in the country, the impacts on communities and the environment and the critical need to reform the Armenian mining sector through legislation.

Talin Hitik, a lawyer based in Chicago recently established the Armenia Center for Dispute Resolution, the mission of which is to build capacity in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Armenia and establish a state-of-the art ADR hearing center in Yerevan. She and Nayiri Boghossian, partner in Al Owais, an arbitration and commercial dispute law firm based in Dubai speak to EVN Report about the necessity of ADR as a response to the deficiencies in the current functioning of Armenia's judicial system.

Nairi Krafian is the Founder of Oknooshoon (from the Armenian for “help” and “dog”) an organization that has set out to not only challenge the way animals are viewed in Armenia but also help people struggling with different challenges to get the opportunity to benefit from dog therapy. Oknooshoon's mission is also to set the gold standard for therapy dogs that other countries would want to model; Krafian believes the concept of “good enough for Armenia” is not an acceptable approach any longer.

Lusine Saghumyan, the author of EVN Report's White Paper "Future Prospects for Foster Care for Children With Disabilities" speaks about the need to develop policies and mechanisms aimed at providing specialized foster care for abandoned children with disabilities.

A newly released audit report about the Amulsar gold mine sparked protests in Armenia. Anna Shahnazaryan, a member of the Environmental Front Civic Initiative, who took part in the protest in Yerevan today, spoke to EVN Report about their concerns regarding the potential detrimental impact of the mine on Armenia's ecology.

Areg Gevorgyan, CEO of Innovative Solutions and Technology Center (ISTC) speaks to EVN Report about their mission in identifying problems in higher education, modernizing IT curricula and working with different universities to cover the gaps in the technology ecosystem in Armenia. The center also works on challenges facing the IT/High-Tech workforce in Armenia, the creation of viable IT startups and how to transition Armenia into a regional IT/High-Tech center of excellence.

To understand the threats to Armenia’s forests and issues that need to be managed and understood if Armenia wants to rapidly increase its forest cover, EVN Report spoke with Alen Amirkhanian, the director of the Acopian Center for the Environment about policy failures, conservation and protection, reforestation, afforestation and the potential role of protected areas in the development of tourism in Armenia.

Archaeologist Dr. Lori Khatchadourian spoke with EVN Report about her current archaeological and ethnographic research in Armenia that focuses on the afterlife of socialist modernity, focusing on the forces shaping industrial ruination. Khatchadourian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University, the co-director of a long-term field project in Armenia called the Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies (Project ArAGATS), co-director of Cornell's Landscapes and Objects Laboratory and co-founder and co-director of the Aragats Foundation.

Armenia has a waste management crisis. Harutyun Alpetyan, the lead expert for the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment’s Waste Governance in Armenia program, spoke to EVN Report about the development of a national solid waste governance policy, strategy and roadmap based on the principles of a circular economy.

World renowned violinist Sergey Khachatryan and his spouse Angela Garcia Lopez talk to EVN Report about their shared passion for music and Armenia, the need for a change in mentality, education, work ethic and much more.