Yerevan mayor presents short- and long-term air pollution control  measures 

ArmInfo.  Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan presented long- term and short-term measures to combat air pollution at a working meeting on December 1. Recalling that air  quality measuring devices have been installed at major construction  sites since 2024, he reported that deterioration in air quality  typically occurs between mid-November and mid-March.

Avinyan noted that solutions certainly exist, but they are quite  complex. "In many cases, they must be implemented outside Yerevan. If  we're talking about long-term solutions, we're talking about hundreds  of hectares of forest plantations that can create wind barriers," he  noted.

Speaking of short-term solutions, without elaborating, the mayor  noted that construction workers can expect stricter restrictions. He  added that certain administrative work will be carried out, which  will improve the air quality situation by up to 20%. According to  Avinyan, a regulation will be adopted in December requiring builders  to install dust suppression equipment at their sites. In this regard,  the mayor was informed that there are construction sites where such  systems have been implemented, and work on this is ongoing.

The mayor emphasized that discussions with industry representatives  will soon take place, and certain analytical studies will also be  conducted. "We are talking about complex decisions and significant  restrictions, but I think the health of our children is more  important than the restrictions that will be introduced," he said.

It should be noted that, according to the Center for Hydrometeorology  and Monitoring at the Ministry of Environment, dust concentrations in  Yerevan have exceeded the permissible limit in recent days. Mayor  Tigran Avinyan stated at a municipal meeting on November 24 that the  deteriorating air quality in Yerevan is not due to construction, but  to toxic arson, fires, and emissions from wood-heated homes.  Meanwhile, it should be noted that environmental experts tend to  believe that the high level of air pollution in the country is due to  the failure to comply with environmental standards during large-scale  construction in the capital, the felling of large, healthy trees by  the capital's mayor's office, and the increase in the number of cars,  particularly exhaust emissions.