YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), April 20—For the first time in the history of independent Armenia, Red Books of animals and plants will be published in 2010, said the Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia Aram Harutyunyan.

“This year we started to work on the publication of Red Books of flora and fauna. Currently, all problems have been solved, and soon we will have a quite lengthy Red Books of plants and animals,” said Harutyunyan at a press conference on Monday.

The minister also said that a section about fungi will be included in the Red Book of plants, and a section about the animals that are in the “zone of risk” will be included in the Red Book of Animals.

On  January 29, the Armenian Government approved the Red Book of plants and the Red Book of animals. The last Armenian Red Books of plants and animals were published in 1988. They included information about and 387 rare and endangered plant species and 99 animal species.

It is planned to publish 500 copies of the new Red Books, which will include 463 species of plants and 155 species of animals.

Translated from Russian by Yerevan Report