Forest Alliance of Armenia

Preamble
Forest ecosystems provide a multitude of benefits to humans in terms of climate regulation, water supply, erosion control, biodiversity, clean air, carbon sequestration, and more. At the same time, forests are under significant pressure from both human activity and climate change.
The Forest Alliance of Armenia (FAA or the Alliance) is established by organizations actively engaged in reforestation in Armenia, with the aim of supporting, protecting, and promoting forest ecosystems in the broadest sense in Armenia.

Founding Members
The founding members of the Alliance are:

• Armenia Tree Project Charitable Foundation
• My Forest Armenia Environmental NGO
• Shen Charitable NGO

Mission
The mission of the Forest Alliance of Armenia is to advocate for the protection and sustainable management of forests in Armenia; to support the increase of forest cover; and to raise public awareness on the vital importance of forests for human life and the necessity of protecting and expanding forest ecosystems.

Objectives
The objectives of the Forest Alliance of Armenia are:

• Advocate for the protection and sustainable management of forests in Armenia
• Support reforestation and the increase of forest cover in Armenia
• Support biodiversity conservation in Armenia
• Raise public awareness on the importance of forests for Armenia’s development, future generations, and all related environmental challenges

Activities
a. Organize regular roundtables with public authorities and other stakeholders involved in forest-related issues, such as universities, academic institutions, NGOs, international organizations, etc., in order to discuss key challenges and achieve concrete outcomes.
b. If necessary, establish working groups with public authorities to ensure practical follow-up on agreed actions.
c. Raise public awareness on the importance of forests through various communication channels, including media, social media, exhibitions, seminars, and other outreach tools.

Coordination
The coordination of the Alliance’s work and communication is carried out on a rotational basis, with each founding member assuming responsibility for a 4-month period.
During this period, the coordinating organization is responsible for managing both online and offline communication, organizing roundtable meetings (including venue arrangements and participant invitations), preparing and distributing meeting minutes to all participants, and following up with stakeholders on agreed action points.
Coordination is transferred to the next founding member 6 weeks prior to the next roundtable meeting.

Meetings
The Alliance meets regularly to exchange views on current and upcoming topics and to prepare roundtable meetings both in terms of content and logistics.
Meetings may be convened by any member organization.

Quorum and Decisions
All members must be present for a meeting to be valid.
All decisions are taken by consensus and require unanimity.

Minutes of Meetings
The coordinating organization prepares the minutes of each meeting and shares them with all members. The minutes are approved at the subsequent meeting.

Membership
Membership in the Alliance is open to any non-profit organization engaged in afforestation, reforestation, forest restoration, and/or forest conservation in Armenia, provided it meets the criteria below and is committed to the objectives of the Forest Alliance of Armenia.
Each new member organization is admitted upon approval by the existing members of the Alliance, based on the following criteria:

• The organization is actively engaged in reforestation and has planted at least 10 hectares of new forest annually over the past 2 years.
• The organization does not plant tree species that are officially declared invasive in Armenia or are reasonably suspected to be invasive to the native flora.
• The organization may also be involved in related activities such as shelterbelt establishment and riparian forest restoration in Armenia.

Advisory & Scientific Board
The Scientific Board of the Alliance includes the Rector of the National Agrarian University of Armenia (currently Vardan Urutyan) and the Director of the Acopian Center for the Environment of the American University of Armenia (currently Alen Amirkhanian). They may participate in all Board meetings without voting rights.
The Board of the FAA may invite any additional advisors as deemed necessary to support its mission and objectives.

Publication of Information
Information regarding the activities, objectives, and positions of the Forest Alliance of Armenia may not be published independently by individual member organizations.
All texts, images, and other content must be agreed upon in advance by the founding members of the Alliance and are preferably first published on FAA platforms (website, Facebook page, etc.), followed by member organizations’ platforms.
When expressing their own views or positions, member organizations may do so in their own name.

Financing
To cover costs related to the Alliance’s activities, such as roundtable meetings, awareness campaigns, events, and communication activities, members share expenses equally. In-kind contributions are also possible.

The Alliance may receive financial support from external organizations and donors, provided such support is aligned with the objectives of the Alliance.