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FAO plans to reduce negative impact of rural communities on forests in Azerbaijan

Business Materials 26 September 2018 20:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 26

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations plans to limit and reduce the impact on forest resources of the rural communities living near forest belts, Head of the FAO Partnership and Liaison Office in Azerbaijan Melek Cakmak told Trend Sept. 26.

She noted that within a project on assessment of forest resources of Azerbaijan, it is planned to engage in increasing self-employment of the rural population living near the forest belts in order to reduce their impact on forests.

"In these areas, it is planned first to increase the literacy of the population, so that they would be more actively engaged in such areas of activity as beekeeping, mushroom cultivation and so on. It is also planned to develop ecotourism and apian tourism [a type of tourism aimed at tasting, consumption, purchase of honey products at the place of production] in these areas. This will increase the welfare of the population and reduce their negative impact on the forest belts," Cakmak said.

She said the project will also allow to conduct an inventory-taking of forest resources of Azerbaijan, which has not been carried out since the times of the USSR.

"Such work was carried out the last time in 1988. It is also planned to strengthen the human and technical potential of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan within the project, so that they could carry out this work in the future. The inventory-taking will allow Azerbaijan to form a policy on forest resources, as well as to successfully implement projects in this area. It is also planned within the project to restore damaged forests in the Gakh and Aghdam regions of Azerbaijan and to plant new trees. This will allow to protect the soil as well as reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the air," Cakmak said.

The project is implemented with joint funding from the Government of Azerbaijan, the Global Economic Foundation (GEF) and FAO. The main financing of the project has been undertaken by GEF, and FAO and the Government of Azerbaijan will provide non-financial support to the project.

"GEF has allocated $1.5 million for this project, and the amount of support of FAO and the Government, which will manifest in the provision of labor and other resources, can be estimated at $1 million and $2-3 million, respectively," Cakmak said.

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