Azerbaijan, Gabala, Nov 28 /Trend A.Akhundov/
Azerbaijan must continue the process of cleaning up the oil-polluted land which is going to take up resources, effort and a lot of money, Founder Director and CEO of EcoMuslim Omar Faruk told Trend in Baku.
"I think Azerbaijan is going in the right direction. EcoMuslim would be very interested in involving in progressing and helping the land clean-up. I hope to see myself and EcoMuslim working with the government of Azerbaijan, state institutions and various people who have responsibilities for cleaning up contaminated land in Azerbaijan", Faruk said.
Faruk took part in International Camp of Young Environmentalists organized by the International Dialogue for Environmental Action (IDEA). The Camp, which deals with environmental issues, kicked off in Gabala on Friday and ended its work on Saturday.
"I invite Leyla Aliyeva which founded IDEA and other people who are running this campaign to come to London and present and share their experiences, findings and their vision for the future", Faruk said.
Participants of International Camp of Young Environmentalists adopted a final declaration on Saturday.
Gabala principles include five messages from the world's young people for a safer future in harmony with global environment, declaration said. These messages are "Take responsibility for the problem", "Respect our right to a safe, low carbon future", "Demand greater understanding", "Youth has a voice", "Personal commitment".
According to Faruk, the declaration will have good effect and force.
"At least it will have inspired those who have attended Gabala in November 2011. It will be an effective document which will indicate, contain our intentions, our dreams, our visions for the future", Faruk said.
Conservation Consultant WWF Italy Guido Trivellini also recommends Azerbaijan work as much as possible towards the protection of its territory from pollution as a result of oil and gas production.
"Azerbaijan is the country where oil companies are very important. This creates environmental risks which is quite high. I think which is must be done it is to work as much as possible towards the protection of the territory, doing the right assessment and keep situation with oil companies absolutely under control. This is absolutely basic. The environmental sustainability means that if you ruin your territory you are going to lose something that you can't get back later", Trivellini said.
As earlier Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Huseyn Bagirov said, the most serious environmental problems for Azerbaijan are oil-polluted lands and semi-nomadic cattle-breeding.
"The territories requiring treatment create environmental tension. At the same time SOCAR continues to cleaning work on their lands. It is also the problem of creating industrial enterprises remained from Soviet times. But mostly, the biological diversity and reduction of forest area affected by semi-nomadic herding "- Bagirov said.