 policy forum armenia issues its second state of the nation report for immediate release on december 31 2010 policy forum armenia pfa issued its report on the state of armenia s environment  the report provides an overview of environmental challenges facing armenia and highlights the severity of the current situation it is intended to serve as a reference to a complex set of environmental problems and issues that are closely intertwined with the country s development corruption and environmental activism are also discussed in some detail in the report the report argues that improving environmental governance requires increased transparency and public participation in key policy decisions as well as the effective implementation and enforcement of existing environmental laws the open pit mining operations in northern armenia the teghut case explored in the report is an example of one facility where both urgent policy changes and adequate enforcement of existing policies are needed section i of the report provides the general motivation behind the study section ii offers an historical overview of environmental conditions during the soviet period as well as problems that emerged in the early years of independence and were aggravated by the hardships of the energy crisis section iii examines a number of current environmental threats facing armenia section iv provides a case study on mining operations with a detailed examination of the controversial mining project in the teghut forest finally section v concludes the analysis this is the second report in pfa s state of the nation series which aims to provide an assessment of developments of critical importance taking place in armenia and the diaspora the report is available at wwwpfarmeniaorg reports  neither the authors nor the reviewers of the report have received any compensation for their contribution policy forum armenia is an independent nonprofit association aimed at strengthening discourse on armenia s economic development and national security and through that helping to shape public policy in armenia policy forum armenia pfa 1250 i eye street nw suite 710 washington dc 20005 usa email  forum pfarmeniaorg web  http wwwpfarmeniaorg  