Azerbaijan To Introduce AI-Based Forest Monitoring System - Minister (Interview)

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23. Environmental protection issues are of great importance to the population of the whole world today, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Rashad Ismayilov said in an interview with Trend International News Agency and ARB24 TV channel.

According to him, the fight against climate change, land degradation, air and water pollution, and water scarcity have become very serious issues.

"These issues are now transboundary in nature. I would say that the effectiveness of steps taken within any state to resolve these issues is low. Therefore, I believe that it is now necessary for the work done to resolve these issues to be considered together at the regional, global, and world community levels, and the results of the measures taken together will be more targeted. A serious and on-the-agenda issue is climate change, we see it, it causes serious concern in our daily lives and among the population. The reasons are clear," he noted.

Solid waste may double by 2050

The minister pointed out that the recent rains in Baku have also raised serious questions among the population. This is an example of climate change.

"Waste management can also be mentioned among these trends. It is becoming a very serious problem. According to the UN, in 2023, the volume of solid waste exceeded 2 billion tons. According to forecasts, this figure may double by 2050," he said.

Ismayilov also emphasized the importance of international events held in Azerbaijan.

"I believe that international events in this area only serve common goals. The Azerbaijani state is in a leading position in this area. The Azerbaijani state comes up with certain initiatives and is accepted by the world community. Our population sees this, our citizens are witnesses to this. I would like to specially mention the COP29 event. New challenges were put forward for the world community, and at the same time, along with education for Azerbaijani citizens, it gave impetus to the growth of a new climate and environmental protection culture. I must say that the responsibility of our people in this area has already increased. The WUF13 event - the World Urban Forum - held in Baku these days has already attracted our citizens. We are monitoring and seeing the number of people registering," he explained.

The minister pointed out that urban planning has not gone far from environmental problems.

"The most important component of urban planning, at least for our ministry, is the environment, the environment in which our people live, air quality, various, so to speak, accessibility issues - all of these are the subjects of comprehensive study at that event today.

Each of these international events individually plays a very important role in the formation of a new mindset of our citizens," he noted.

Two national parks to be established in liberated territories in near future

Ismayilov pointed out that the ministry's goal is to increase the number and size of national parks.

"Nature in Azerbaijan is distinguished by its diversity. There is a Biological Diversity Protection Service operating under the ministry in this area. Specially protected areas in Azerbaijan are under the management of that institution. There are 12 national parks in Azerbaijan. We have many reserves and sanctuaries. These are areas with different regimes, and the management of these areas is a very important issue. Today, increasing the area of ​​our national parks serves to familiarize our people with nature. In particular, our foreign guests are also very interested in the richness of our nature. We are constantly in contact with the relevant ministries of various countries, we hold bilateral meetings. They know the names of the pearls of our nature, such as Goygol, and they know where they are located. During meetings with ambassadors in Azerbaijan, comparing the species of the animal world that we have with those in their countries is already becoming a place of interest for them and attracting tourists from those countries. The ministry's goal is to increase the number and size of these areas. In 2025, two new national parks will be opened in Azerbaijan. was created. As you probably know, one of them is the Ilisu National Park. This national park was created on the basis of the Ilisu reserve, its area increased. At the same time, by the decree of the esteemed President Ilham Aliyev, a new national park was also created in Azerbaijan, called Akhar-Bahar.

It has a very attractive name, and in fact, its nature is very rich. Probably, our population sees the video information released by the ministry. This national park was created completely anew - in areas where there were no restrictions, no reserves. This is an indicator that we are already exploring the richness of new territories and trying to increase their protection regime. Today, work is underway to expand the territory of the Absheron National Park. In fact, it is a very important issue, we are thinking of covering more areas near the watershed, in the part of the Caspian Sea," Ismayilov added.

The minister noted that two new national parks will be created in Azerbaijan in the near future.

"At the same time, we are also active in this direction in the territories liberated from occupation. Those territories have been exposed to external influences for a long time, our forests have been destroyed, and biodiversity has been seriously damaged. Today, we also have a moral obligation to apply a separate regime there, organize their protection.

The creation of national parks is a complex issue. Especially considering that large-scale construction work is underway in the liberated territories. As you know, economic activity is almost prohibited in the territory of national parks. Today, we have established cooperation with other bodies, mutual discussions are underway. We have divided them into economic zones: the Karabakh economic zone, the East Zangezur economic zone. I believe that in the near future we will witness the creation of two new national parks. One part will be created in the Karabakh economic zone, and the other part will be created in the East Zangezur zone, which will cover an area of ​​10,000 hectares. These are very large areas, and when selecting the areas, we mainly tried to cover areas with a greater wealth of nature and a variety of fauna. At the same time, the existing restrictions in the legislation on national parks are also taken into account. We are trying to ensure that when our population moves to these areas in the future, pasture lands remain for them, and that we do not touch the areas for cultivation as much as possible. Work in this area is ongoing. I believe that in the near future we'll witness the creation of our first national park in those areas," he explained.

Speaking about hunting activities, the minister noted that climate change also has a serious impact on this area.

"Today, there are 13 existing hunting farms in Azerbaijan. These farms operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. It is a sensitive issue. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, I would say, is a conservative ministry. Our goal is to avoid touching nature as much as possible, to keep it away from anthropogenic impact. However, interest in the traditional hunting sector in Azerbaijan is very high. I would say that even when we impose some restrictions, our citizens have questions: "The season has already started, why is the season opening late?", "Why are the limits being strictly applied?" In the current situation, it is clear that climate change also has a serious impact on this area. We are trying to initially base our work in this area on censuses. What does this mean? Before the season, our specialists from the Biological Diversity Protection Service conduct a census of species and collect information about the current population.

The goal is to try to prevent the decline of populations. Accordingly, a special council operating within the ministry - in which there are specialists from the Academy of Sciences, specialists from relevant institutes are involved, and specialists from non-governmental organizations are also working in this area. The issue is being discussed. Based on that respect, we approach the issue cautiously, within certain limits, we try to divide the season into parts by species. Depending on the results of that season, that part, we can continue or stop hunting for a certain species in the same season. It is clear that this sometimes causes dissatisfaction among our citizens. But as I said earlier, our people, our citizens have become more nature-loving today. From the calls from the public and the applications received by the ministry, we see that even if there are points of dissatisfaction, it is mostly presented as a question of why this happened, why the limits were low. For the future, we think that we will fully digitalize this area because we believe that the most serious issue here is accounting issues," he noted.

According to him, there are no restrictions on the issuance of hunting tickets.

"We must constantly monitor our populations. In this regard, we have already started issuing hunting permits in a test mode through the Digital Ecology Information System - we call it REIS - established by President Ilham Aliyev at the beginning of 2025.

Hunting tickets are usually issued by ASAN service. Applications are reviewed in accordance with the requirements and they are presented to our citizens in a timely manner. There are many applications. This area is always of interest to our citizens," he said.

The minister noted that the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources intends to digitalize daily and amateur hunting activities in the future.

"In the next stages, we generally want to digitize daily hunting activities, amateur hunting activities. When our hunters go hunting, we will both track their movement trajectory and organize control. This is actually for the protection of our hunters themselves. At the same time, we are thinking of using this electronic system to serve as a record-keeping system, that is, to register the prey obtained during hunting. This is a matter of the future, a clear issue. It's possible that some will perceive this as a restriction, as a tighter framework. But we think that, overall, our population will welcome these issues. Because the main goal is the protection of our nature, the protection of the environment," he added.

Ismayilov said that there is a land fund called the "forest fund" in Azerbaijan, and these areas exceed 1 million 200,000 hectares.

"It covers approximately 14% of Azerbaijan. However, when we say forest, we do not mean only these areas. There are also municipal forests, there are forests on other reserve fund lands, the greenness of which is reported by us. In general, it is clear that not all of the forest fund is covered with forest. Today, we can say that more than 1 million hectares of our territory is covered with forest.

In general, this is a low indicator. For example, if we compare the Scandinavian countries with the Baltic states, over 40-45% of their territory is covered with forest. Recently, we were discussing with our partners from Slovakia. It is a Central European country, more than 40% of its territory is covered with forest. At the same time, our forests also belong to the first category of forests. Therefore, the use of these forests in industry is not considered advisable.

If we look back at our forest history, back to the 1990s, when the USSR collapsed, we can see that the country experienced certain difficulties with energy supply and gas supply. Unfortunately, these problems that existed at that time had a very serious and negative impact on our forests. Today, relevant work is being carried out together with the State Property Service to accurately determine the volume of forest areas, and this activity is almost nearing completion. Currently, the final completion work is being carried out to approve the re-mapping of forest fund territories. The final stage of all these activities will create the basis for the implementation of extensive protection measures in forest areas. Currently, the existing forest cover is being taken into account, and as mentioned earlier, reforestation measures have been initiated in vacant areas without tree cover," he explained.

Reforestation work carried out on 40,000 hectares of land in Azerbaijan

Ismayilov noted that reforestation activities were carried out on a total of 40,000 hectares in Azerbaijan from 2020 to 2026.

"It's clear that one of the most important issues on the agenda is the restoration of forest areas in the liberated territories. In this context, it is planned to restore 110 hectares of forest land in the Lachin district, and the implementation of the project is expected to start towards the end of this year.

In general, the cultivation of seedlings is one of the most important tasks ahead in the field of forestry. Forest restoration is carried out both by growing and planting young seedlings and by direct seed sowing. The level of completion is higher in forest areas restored by the seedling planting method," the minister added.

2 million tree seedlings to be grown in Jabrayil district

According to him, the "Seedling Center" operating in the Jabrayil district aims to grow two million seedlings per year.

"Starting from the end of 2024, the Forest Development Service has begun installing large greenhouses. So far, five large greenhouse complexes have been installed. Currently, nearly one million seedlings are grown in these greenhouses annually. These greenhouse systems bring great advantages to forestry. Since seedlings grow faster than normal in artificial and warm conditions, nature gets a whole season ahead. Since seedlings mature faster, they can be used more quickly in forest restoration and new afforestation activities.

In addition, we have a major project in another liberated territory - Jabrayil. With the support of the Turkish state, the "Smart Seedling Center" covering an area of ​​97 hectares has been established. The foundation of this center was personally laid by President Ilham Aliyev and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It's planned that the center will start operating at full capacity by the end of this year. The center will both grow seedlings using modern methods and will function as a regional training center. It's aimed to grow two million seedlings per year, which will make an invaluable contribution to the restoration of forests in the liberated areas. At the same time, there are other alternative projects that are at the initial stage," he added.

Azerbaijan launches first pilot project on industrial forestry

The minister emphasized that the first pilot project for the establishment of industrial forests is being launched in Azerbaijan.

"Currently, there are no industrial forests in Azerbaijan. However, there have been certain requests from both society and local entrepreneurs in this direction. Looking at world experience, industrial forest planting is a widely practiced practice, and industrial forests are planted, especially in China, as well as in Germany and Spain. Very extensive planting has also begun in Uzbekistan. Recently, during our meeting with our Uzbek partners, an initiative was put forward to plant Paulownia and fast-growing poplar tree species. We have studied this issue. We believe that if we can carry out afforestation of these types of trees through our entrepreneurs for the purpose of industrial forest, this will be a step forward. We will be able to restore our forests more quickly. At the same time, our population will also be able to benefit from this. The main point here is Paulownia trees, which are not typical for Azerbaijan, so we are sensitive to this issue. A pilot project is being launched on an area of ​​100 hectares, and depending on the results, we will move on to the next steps. At the same time, we are also partnering with the Ministry of Economy regarding the effectiveness of this work. Foreign experts are also being involved in this work. In parallel, work is being carried out on the efficiency and contribution of this work to the Azerbaijani economy. This type of tree planting is also being actively carried out in European countries," he noted.

Speaking about the issue of firewood use and fuel, the minister noted that during the energy shortage in the 1990s, the population widely used forests as a source of firewood. However, as the level of gasification in settlements increases, this demand is gradually decreasing.

"We have remote villages and healthcare facilities, military units in remote regions, which require firewood today. In 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the volumes, according to which sanitary felling is carried out in forests by the Forest Development Service. The upper limit was set at about 84,000 cubic meters, but for example, last year, the volume of firewood we removed was 67,000 cubic meters. We are trying to minimally affect our nature and forests. At the same time, we use trees that have already lived their lives, let's say, rotten, dried trees, during these sanitary fellings. Work is also underway to organize serious control in this area.

Today, I call this 'forest poaching'. There are also illegal logging and scraps. The fight against this is also one of the service's areas of activity. These days, we have tried to take advantage of alternative, objective control directions. For example, I can say that we have already applied this in the field of biodiversity protection. Citizens can familiarize themselves with it on our website, the official website of the ministry. How did we establish the approach? In previous periods, there was also surveillance with surveillance cameras in various places. We went one step further. We have already applied this in the Shamkir reserve. Surveillance cameras were installed and those video images are currently being published online through the ministry's website.

We advocate for not only oversight by a single ministry and its subordinate bodies, but also for broader public scrutiny, so that changes can be observed and assessed objectively. We prevented an illegal charcoal production in that area and other types of activities related to wood production. After installing surveillance cameras and applying this approach, we became the reason for the revival of that lake. Today, in the season, when we look, we see how many birds, new bird species, even come to that lake. We are inspired by this, we consider it a positive experience, and taking advantage of this, we are already increasing the number of cameras to carry out video surveillance in our forest areas, especially in the areas of entry and exit to the forest, to prevent illegal activities," the minister added.

Drones and artificial intelligence to be used in fight against "forest poaching"

The minister said that by the end of this year, cameras will be installed in certain areas, mainly in risk zones, and the footage will be broadcast online.

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