The next episode of the “Dilemma” podcast on security issues focuses on water resource management problems, the volume of water loss in Armenia and the depletion of the Ararat artesian basin, the impact of climate change and transboundary issues on water resource management, as well as the need for developing and implementing systematic policies.
Climate Change Program Coordinator, PhD in Biological Sciences, and Vahag Tonoyan, water resource management expert, PhD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The conversation is hosted by Areg Kochinyan, head of the “Research Center on Security Policy.”
Diana Harutyunyan
“Water usage standards need to be revised in a way, using economic tools that will promote water-saving technologies…”
…”Water policy also determines how it will provide for agriculture, population, and energy in the future, because energy is not just hydropower, and we need to understand very realistically that water is also needed for cooling energy systems, whether it’s nuclear power plants or thermal power plants.”
Vahag Tonoyan
“With proper and flexible management, we can well generate money; with political will, we can significantly strengthen water resource management and monitoring, allocate finances, demand more, and achieve greater results.”
Areg Kochinyan
“As we noted, Armenia has very serious water resource problems, and these are already security-level issues…
…Our first fundamental problem is defining and implementing military objectives. The second is policy development – developing systematic policy and sector organization. The third is about good governance.”
