BioTopic Sensitivity and Management Models of Pastures Background Summer pastures in Armenia are an important resource for feeding livestock and have an outstanding value for biodiversity. In Armenia, during the past 5 years, there has been a higher rate of soil erosion and decreased capacity of summer pastures because of the rapid increase of grazing livestock. e future situation of pastures in Armenia depends on accurate policy decisions and consequent management, which, in their turn, require sound knowledge and primary data about the conditions of pastures. Aim and Objectives Primary data availability plays a crucial role in selecting appropriate cost-effective methods for pasture assessment, monitoring, and planning. In Armenia the main obstacle for meeting this objective is the lack of detailed soil property maps as well as low density of meteorological stations. As erosion is a multi-temporal procedure, seasonal land cover and use affect the accuracy of any mapping results. us, several potential data sources should always be considered for obtaining seasonal land cover, soil characteristics, and rainfall estimations. e following methodology has been designed for a nationwide implementation of comprehensive and objective monitoring and planning of pasture conditions. e main aim of this work was to develop a GIS-based Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation Model (RUSLE) and to use Remote Sensing (RS) - based methods for assessing the state of pastures and the potential risk of soil erosion on Aragats Mountain. Dataset e data that was available for the implementation of this work comprised the following: • A land cover map (Figure 1) • A set of Rapid Eye (2011) and Landsat ETM (2011) satellite images (Figure 2) • Generated Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (Figure 3) • A geological map • Monthly climatic average observations derived from three meteorological stations Comprehensive knowledge of the condition of pastures is the basis for accurate policy decisions and consequent management. Sustainable Management of Biodiversity (SMB), South Caucasus