On aljazeera. 2018 a new government came to power in armenia and made quite spread optimism that its leader Nicole Shinya would end decades of corruption and economic mismanagement but now he said ministration faces a major lemma whether to proceed with a huge be defined mining project that summer warning will cause enormous environmental damage and one of the worlds rarest animal species. The former soviet republic of armenia has witnessed dramatic changes in the last 12 months. A bloodless revolution led by journalist turned politician nicole pushing a promised an end to decades of corrupt rule this. Is just one a snap election and for the 1st time in years there is hope to ms m o 1st priority is to continue. To call it war sally and to make a real difference is he not me on the economy. Or mania has enjoyed years of blockades imposed by its neighbors turkey and azerbaijan the countrys economy never really recovering from the collapse of the u. S. S. R. Previous governments resorted to leasing its mineral rich bentons to foreign mining concerns it was driven by need for revenue but it also caused an enormous environmental damage even worse say some of the economic benefits were only ever enjoyed by a few new army of oh sure the problem out. There still will go to me soon the war will mean or should. Cool the loss of some of those in the who she said beautiful shall but it will let the police. Have the latest of these mining projects is proving she usually divisive supported by the previous government and poised to begin work it is said to exploit a massive gold deposit in the south of the country but it is being blockaded by activists who believe that profits are less important than on main is unique environment you cant drink gold or you cant eat gault you cant just bury gold you need pure environment for life. What happens next. Where the mind goes ahead will the activists win that battle lies in the hands of the new Prime Minister nickel pushing me and. Its a decision that could affect the future of his administration or threaten the ecosystem and even the fate of one of the worlds most imperiled animal species. Tiny landlocked all mean year is the oldest Christian Country in the world. Blessed with rich soils it is also considered to be the birthplace of wine and even today agriculture forms the mainstay of the economy. The magnificent mind ararat where many believe the remains of noahs ark will one day be found is the national symbol. Today the mountains of armenia like the fabled on remain a refuge for many endangered animals the Hunting Ground of the worlds rarest big cat the koch asian leopard of which there are estimated to be only 10 left in the country. This unique footage was captured by trial cameras. Alexander more caution a rules authority on the reclusive animal has been charting the leopards battle for survival for over 20 years. As an awful events and updated doric what. Was shelagh the break so show up short i missed it don im. Not going to be a lot of calls loaf. Where that they get dirty bombs for years id say. What youre not going of course out of the gate click of. But the fate of this magnificent beast hangs in the balance with the new mine ready and waiting to go into production as are lots of players of many of. Them where you are but it was enough to go. Deeper within the karabakh ridge a mountain called amel saw which translates as the barren place is ironically the site of a massive gold deposit discovered by angloamerican Mining Company Lydian International who intend to extract the precious metal by means of a controversial he played chain process. Maybe an international is a biggest foreign investor in the cult during last for been years we invested about 500000000000 over this project is very important for the economy or. We designed the project to be. Environmentally. Safe 1st of all he placed ethnology doesnt have to face down there is no issues with water no issues with the health of community. But local see things differently and fearful that their lives are about to change forever. The tourism in the free trade which have always been the main source of income will be destroyed if the mine goes ahead. Spurred on by the recent revolution for the last 6 months protesters have blocked all roads to the mountain stopping for the mine construction. At 1st we leave out our cars then we bring and now we bring temporary houses like this is the place we are living now. This is our scene but thats we must save on the side of the door hence our mom i know were almost sorry depend on we must save eat right home michael he not going while were on last night while we jump are you going to tell your run job would you just write your borders and loved you document your for on cardboard see i bore sure none of them made her Michael Chang got all those that. Many. Have come to this remote to support the book ages. People like annie from the capital yerevan he was a 7 year old son is. Every time i go to. His asking me to stay with him and i just explain him that if i dont go. Who who can go so i feel some moral duty to go there and to spend with them anyway its a little bit difficult because im a girl and theyre all boys but i can say that during this months we became just like family. Well let us know when theres you deserve this nice woman ya got so shell you bastardo here sure should just leave it right it. Wouldnt bother with. The blockade has proved for a marketplace thanks to. The machinery and trucks lie idle the project is literally frozen. Which is it. Its about how the dollar but now its more because were lost people. Professionals we had a mean 800270 contra. The blockade is making some people just because of the wider implications. For not coming one day close all the mines because they will have basically you will be destroyed a big part of your budget thousands and thousands of people will be out of the job armenias titular head of state president sarkozy and used to be on the board of lydian the blockaders believe hes just one of many power brokers backing the mind his role was more of brokering this potential big investment into into the country as opposed to anything else. On my side has been a fixer for this mining project and we wanted to. We actually asked him directly questions of what was his role and asked him to disclose information that is particularly important at the moment. He denied to disclose information when you join a board your science of the challenge. My cautious is absolutely clear what i did absolutely clear. Non the less the blockaders a wary of the president preferred to put their faith in armenias new Prime Minister nicola pushing him on his shoulders the future of the minaya rests a political outsider and in a fired man of the people last spring the shinya was swept into office on an unprecedented wave of popular support. He promised to end the endemic corruption that had dogged his country under the decade long rule of former president says suck sand of the Republican Party the legitimacy i mean social legitimacy psychologically over the public good part was there is they were not popular even 10 years ago with this except to keep the truth. Pushing in a former political prisoner began a long march from the west of the country to the capital yerevan much of the time with his wife at his side in her right at the. Height of itself. I doubt it was. Yet a good hour to get it behind our back to someone else almost nothing and well like the slumlord yes thats because hong kong has a sense of again thats the good nods i levels. Most economists that. With hundreds of thousands of supporters on the streets demanding he became Prime Minister instead of socks and machine eunice yoon power in a velvet revolution. He immediately set about tackling corruption with high profile cases like the mayor of yerevan his numerous mansions were filmed by a drain the video of which went viral on the internet. People were incensed love that but these are options to push you know the. Dish nearest you know. To those that still cannot cook fish in order to see you sprouted leaves to be something that in your bus on the. Culture of corruption came from the soviet era and it was and it wasnt fought with in the early stages all army as independence just like it was the case on other in other countries it became a norm. The Mining Industry and body thought corruption say activists extraction permits given by politicians without due process or proper scrutiny had terrible environmental consequences. The armenian environmental front a volunteer group mom says pollution levels of mines across the country including country run are manias biggest we have many mines in armenia we have a small country so but we have huge mines here we have the tailing dom which is one of the biggest in the world. For decades the countrys mineral wealth has been plundered by all agog at the cost of the environment. Lax legislation very low fines on pollution led to the explosion of Mining Industry. Thats a good corporate mind north of the capital is a typical example even before the mine began operations locals say many of them were compelled to sell the land to the company for a fraction of its value. There the enjoyment out of. Earshot your lady. Your middle or shreddings are its all shelter what are my kids. Your socks on your abundantly all is that getting you doesnt own its also worth it worse was to come it turned out that the tail down had a construction issue and it was cracking and that was a major risk off toxins leaking into the violence so they had to shut down but nor before did released a poisonous discharge into the river bed once one of the cleanest in the country contaminating land for miles around. Barack produces vodka from his sharon trees but there is no guarantee that its free from contamination by heavy metals discharge from the mine. Soil samples from farms in the vicinity shows serious contamination is paired trees dried up completely and no longer bear fruit so hes had no choice but to start from scratch in the hope that new plantings fared better. Arik films discharge from the mine going straight into the river. Make nikolaj langkawi run company may link you don often to languor i think would make on either car think reality kind of market on the chaotic but theyre all biased and on casual villainies best news the protesters its am will saw fear they will suffer a similar fate if the mind goes ahead but director of sustainability philip you know mania ohman step in human remains sanguine about any potential risk we come very dim the crushed material all the way down to this facility which is here the hitler just is about 1. 12 meter way from the votes that he played facilities were crushed rock will be does to the cyanide to extract the gold right by the village of ken device as best i say. Its a month 1000 tons a year a 1000 times. And even before the mine is actually gone into production inhabitants of can devise complained of incidence. Well there so let me assume chuck got. Fired. Well you know you can combine our stolen jugs you have shot meds of a tongue in there reschedule current work of a. Marker you have to order. The south caucasus is one of the richest regions in the world for biodiversity and nowhere more so than. The World Wide Fund for nature conducted numerous field studies on the mountain that are completely at all its with the companys assertion that the mind poses new threats to wildlife we found these bought into therefore out that these are at least the species of plant. You for im not mistaken 15 species of birds we count one species of mammal this is brown bear. 3 species of snakes perhaps even more importantly than this the proposed mine is cited in the middle of one of only 2 corridos used by the endangered caucasian leopard got on city area goes like this and you see the mountains here its very important for me gratian of lead part of that and also connect both these ranges in short by project just for the color of their. Yeah one of the corridors partly the last biggest chart over europe and we should protect. Well if theres a lab heard or a nodding then just says you know we will we will produce the syphax you know specific action plan. And by by having by changing be environment you actually also create an environment for your species so thats what happens. But its not just animal species that could be affected. I mean 9 miles from the im also mind is the sport and of jimmy famed for its spring water where there is also open hostility solidity and 70 percent of german i mean to these. People who are against these they are thinking about their future and germ abuse spa place of you know many people go to. Their house in the summer jimmy could try to visitors from all over the former soviet union its a source of Bolton Bolton of the south caucasus but this distinctly up market atmosphere might be about to change if the mine goes ahead. According to libyans environmental and social Impact Assessment similar projects have experienced increased out a whole consumption new or widening commercial sex networks and prostitution it solution distribution of condoms and information materials in local restaurants and entertainment areas. Local businesses are understandably anxious about the future if. Shut my 1000 accounts on me as yours of us that would come both earlier ive had our time without all the meds or or school of right. Or the new general argument with adults running on the wood from. A more fundamental concern is that the close proximity of the mine could id firstly affect jimmys famous mineral water. And maybe even further afield. This is lake 7 the largest body of freshwater in the caucasus holding some 25 percent of all meanies freshwater. Levon is captain of a soviet builds Research Vessel that monitors the like your ideas of grammar the bit where the or was it a thats the yeah. Well thats the god or is it up its just that it was where rob was going on your so you were the other there nor does is that thats the border of orgies of a god without. The lake is connected to the catch at reservoir which is less than 3 miles from the mall saw so could any toxic discharge from the mind also threaten the lake. According to libyans environmental and social Impact Assessment lake 7 will not be impacted. If i recalled the words correctly the practice is negligible or theres no impact however many of your meaning is leading the scientists on most convinced these are biodiversity experts or experts in hydrology or hydrogen ology theyre concerned and theyve expressed their negative opinion on them on the validate the off their Risk Assessment is really up which you look at the problem of would. You have travelled sivana. Regardless who says that but almost all civil no one knows your obfuscates of what they put visitor to go not ask about you know how to ski or shirts or. Some other. Like a rut it is impossible to overstate the cultural significance of like service to romania and the new Prime Minister has been obliged to take notice the position of Prime Minister is that there shall be proper. Impact assessments and proper investigation understands. Is it really that there is a risk for impact on lace and as a result of. Its quite the test of almost im right or not so nobody knows whether he missed it all since also the whole this region is doing damage based on current mentation yes no one really knows. The history of positive value of the water we dont beat me the receipt for you if you are going out for this is going to do no. Such is the importance of this issue the just days before last december the snap election cooled to decide whether pushing in should stay in office he came to the blockade to hear the concerns of the protesters about life and death you know that and often i thought the how about dont ever keep an atmospheric while i was there make you have a killer day to get it because its like its just in chicago models are make of them i was from jane from the harvest my thoughts on how carter numbers from the 3rd are called men in current evil men are going home cos numbers from the next from the children. The Prime Minister moved on to jimmy page where he addressed by those in such an election rather he seemed to hint where his sympathies lie on the mines future it 4 stars 1000000 backed up at the bus dhamma if needs are as a state yet again only an hour before static that would school now. He mom let out god live for even. If hes out of minus i think i got a little knot of good cheer and you know i saw a lot but she. If she got a little older ha catching up made it sooner i asked bonnie says jack im a child id he admits still that he can keep out of kids on the hunt but im on it i got them they leave them us that house me of make is not so in their living cant they walk by. Non the less fishing in his safe all managed to avoid taking a decision on the animals song mine the biggest investment project in the history of all mania. He faces a stark choice that could either deter Foreign Investment or alienate the very people who put him where it is its an uncertain time but one thing seems clear the blockade is on gang anyway. In september 29th being Prime Minister and the call pushing him finally announced that his government had no beleaguered basis to prevent the construction and extraction of the yaml somebody called on environmentalists to lift their blockade of sight as if every 2020 the activists were still in place the stalemate continues. The cal grounds of toga. Defenseless against the winds have been indifferent to international marketplace. And political activist on a mission to establish a cooperative to make can sell chocolate on their own time. And power. A taste of independence on aljazeera. When the news breaks. When people who need to be heard the general situation of course is affecting both of any advantage in graphics and the story needs to be told with exclusive interviews is a country that is used to being polarized and indepth reports movie playing have i thought fight this out is iraq has teams on the ground there saying that theyre against the united to play in movie Award Winning documentaries and live news. Water an essential resource for all humankind across europe pressure to recognize water as a human right and put its management back into public hands is increasing i think that the European Commission would be very very true this was a prophet isaiah should anybody say articulate. Those people who seem ever to have something to invest a prophet of they want all up to the last drop on al jazeera i cannot lock my phone with my face you can access your bank account with your voice unique algorithmic measurements of us that are revolutionizing the process of identification the biometrics are far from perfect convenience and seeming infallibility comes at a costs most crucially our privacy. In the 4th of a far far series on radio addresses the appropriation of our most personal characteristics all hail the algorithm on not just the euro. Hello im daryn jordan in doha with the top stories here on aljazeera a series of air strikes in northern yemen has killed at least 31 civilians the u. N. Humanitarian chief for yemen says the attacks by the Saudi Led Coalition a shocking the strikes happened after who the rebels said they shot down a saudi war plane. Reports now from the yemeni capital sanaa this is the moment Yemens Houthi say they shot down a Saudi Air Force fighter jet the group this video on saturday the saudi u. A. E. Little coalition confirmed to one of its planes it went down you know joe for governorates in the countrys north east there with these also
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