By Trend

A regular meeting of the Working Group on Environmental Issues of the Interdepartmental Center under the Coordination Headquarters, created for the centralized solution of issues in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, was held, Trend reports on Dec. 15.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the relevant government agencies in the Working Group.

The participants noted that up to now the revision of the geological maps of the liberated territories, and the reassessment of the balance of mineral resources according to the stock data have been carried out.

Besides, cadastral work was carried out on 167 deposits in these areas, audits and monitoring of 52 deposits plundered by Armenia in the previously occupied Azerbaijani territories [before their liberation in the 2020 second Karabakh war] and an initial assessment of the caused damage were also conducted.

It was noted that in connection with the study of groundwater sources, 523 wells were audited in the Aghdam district, and 65 wells - in the Fuzuli district. To meet the needs in connection with the design and planning of the economy in the liberated territories, the local stocks of building materials in these areas were assessed, and their use in restoration and construction work was proposed.

Also, the "Program for the restoration of the forest fund in 2022-2026" has been prepared, which provides for measures for planting forests in the liberated territories. Within the framework of the program, in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions, measures are planned to restore forests on almost 30,000 hectares of the territory of the forest fund.

Since the beginning of this year, up to 20,000 tree seedlings have been planted in the territories of Zangilan, Gubadli, Fuzuli, Aghdam, Jabrayil, Shusha, Kalbajar, Lachin and Khojavand districts. Up to 2,000 tons of oak and eastern plane tree seeds have been sown. After de-mining the areas where it is planned to plant forests, large-scale measures will be taken to restore the forest fund.

Besides, the members of the Working Group were informed about the work carried out to restore activities in the field of hydrometeorology. Until 2025, it’s planned to install 11 hydrological, 8 meteorological, 2 radio-meteorological (radar), 4 radioecological stations, 2 integrated automatic stations for determining air quality and one aerosonde station in the liberated territories. In Shusha, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Zangilan and Fuzuli districts, measures are being taken to install five meteorological stations. To assess the water resources, by April 2022, work will be completed on the installation of automatic hydrological stations on 10 rivers.

At the meeting, the members of the group were also provided with information on the monitoring carried out in the liberated territories using the Azersky satellite images, including the work carried out in the territories plowed for autumn crops, as well as in connection with the statistics on the regions in these territories.

The working group on environmental issues functions in the format of close coordination and exchange of information with other working groups of the Interdepartmental Center.

The Coordination Headquarters, created by order of the President of Azerbaijan dated November 24, 2020, is led by the head of the Presidential Administration, Samir Nuriyev.