Heydar Aliyev Foundation VP attends Berlin event dedicated to bison reintroduction [PHOTOS]

As part of the working visit to Berlin, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of the IDEA Public Union Leyla Aliyeva has attended an event titled "Back to Nature: Revival of bison population in Azerbaijan", Azernews reports. The event was organized ahead of the International Biodiversity Day by the IDEA PU at the Azerbaijan Culture Center.

In their remarks, Leyla Aliyeva, Director of the Berlin Zoo Andreas Knieriem,Head of nature conservation department of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Germany Kathrin Samson emphasized the importance of the event and the progress made in reviving and increasing the bison population in Azerbaijan.

Leyla Aliyeva also held meetings with Andreas Knieriem, Kathrin Samson as well as Founder of the Succow Foundation Michael Succow and Head of the Zoology and Veterinary Department of the Lisbon Zoo Rui Bernardino. The sides exchanged views on cooperation in nature protection, conservation, and wildlife revival.

The visit also saw the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Baku and Berlin Zoos. The document envisages the exchange of experience, knowledge and information, as well as joint training sessions for zoo personnel.

Since 2012, the IDEA Public Union, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Azerbaijan office have been intensively working together for the reintroduction of bison into the wild in Azerbaijan.

The current number of bison in the Shahdag National Park has reached 61.

Founded in 2011 by the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, IDEA Public Union aims at promoting public awareness on environmental issues, the education of environmental problems and finding proper solutions for them.

The union successfully collaborates with young people and calls upon each individual to care about the environment and to contribute to ongoing efforts against ecological problems.

Since 2014, annually, IDEA Public Union organizes camps on the theme of environmental protection and expansion of biodiversity. Over these years, schoolchildren from Ismayilli, Salyan, Neftchala, Goranboy, Samukh, Gakh, Shaki, Masalli, Jalilabad, Yardimli, Lankaran, Astara, Goygol, Lerik and other regions took part in the camps.