Expert: Azerbaijan taking important measures to reduce environmental damage caused by industrial enterprises

By Trend

Along with economic development and expansion of the industrialization process, Azerbaijan is taking substantial measures to maintain the ecological balance and reduce the damage which is caused to the environment by industrial enterprises, Azerbaijani ecologist, Ph.D. in biology Fikret Jafarov told Trend on Jan. 24.

Stressing that extensive work is being carried out in Azerbaijan to improve the environmental situation, Jafarov emphasized that important measures are being taken in the country to control the volume of carbon dioxide which is emitted into the atmosphere.

Emphasizing that this has been stipulated in the report of the European Commission, the ecologist added that in 2018, Azerbaijan was at a lower level of 3.5 tons per person in terms of annual carbon dioxide emissions compared to the world average 4.968 tons per person.

Jafarov added that Azerbaijan has a more advantageous position compared to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“Along with other factors contributing to the thermal effect, namely, desertification, the occurrence of natural gases and others, the waste emitted by industrial enterprises into the environment make a significant part of it,” the ecologist added.

“New industrial enterprises use the most advanced technologies for the proper waste management, which already gives a positive result,” the ecologist added. "However, today the problem is the excessive number of vehicles and traffic jams.”

“I think that if the work is being carried out rapidly to resolve this issue, Azerbaijan will achieve even greater results to improve the ecological situation," Jafarov added.

“The large-scale landscaping work, which greatly contributes to maintaining the ecological balance, is being carried out in the country,” the ecologist added. "Landscaping work is carried out along all highways. The tree planting campaigns are being systematically carried out.”

“More than 650,000 trees were planted in all districts of the country within the 'Let’s plant 650,000 trees per day' initiative of Azerbaijani First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva in connection with the 650th anniversary of brilliant poet Nasimi on Dec. 6,” the ecologist added. “This campaign will also make an important contribution to the improvement of the ecological environment in the country.”

“On the other hand, within the plan of comprehensive measures to improve the environmental situation, the European standard is applied in the field of using vehicles in Azerbaijan,” Jafarov added. “All this contributes to a great decrease in the volume of waste released into the atmosphere.”