Minister: Specially protected natural areas in Azerbaijan almost doubled in past 20 years

The area of specially protected natural areas in the country has been almost doubled in the last 20 years, the Ecology and Natural Resources Minister of Azerbaijan Mukhtar Babayev said, Report informs.

He made the remark at the scientific-practical conference on "The role of national leader Heydar Aliyev in improving the environment in Azerbaijan" organized jointly by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the National Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Education within the framework of the Green World Solidarity Year.

The minister emphasized that more than 10 million tree and shrub seedlings were planted in the country during the last five years:

"In 2023 alone, nearly four million trees were planted in the country, and it is targeted to plant five million trees in the current year."

Babayev noted that President Ilham Aliyev is successfully continuing the measures to create new national parks and reserves in the country: "The area of specially protected natural areas in Azerbaijan has been increased almost twice in the last 20 years, from 478,000 hectares to 893,000 hectares."

He also pointed out that large-scale measures have been taken to restore the ecological environment in the liberated territories, and work is ongoing to restore the activity of specially protected natural areas:

"Projects are being implemented for increasing forest and green areas, protection of natural monuments and efficient use of natural resources. As part of the concept of green growth, the policy is being implemented to turn the territories freed from occupation into green energy zones and achieving the goal of carbon neutrality.”