Sevil Yuzbasheva, Chairman of “Eko-Alam” Public Union: “Okhchuchay has been excessively polluted and poisoned, the destruction of our precious forests that have been under occupation, and the cutting of our thousands of year-old monument trees have been observed. Currently, the nature of Karabakh is undergoing resuscitation”
The Globalized World Integration Public Union with the support of the State Support Agency for Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan implements the project “Monitoring of a number of water basins of the country and their biodiversity”. The purpose of the project is to help maintain and protect water basins in Azerbaijan, protect biodiversity in waters, restore control over water resources in Karabakh, maintain the beauty of nature and the cleanliness of the environment, and increase the attractiveness of the country in terms of tourism, especially ecotourism. Within the framework of the project, the opinions and proposals related to the topic are learned from experts in the field, public associations and social activists. Our interviewer on the topic is Sevil Yuzbasheva, the chairman of “Eko-Alam” Public Union.
– First, you would provide information about the activities of your organization and your projects and initiatives in the environmental field.
– “Eko-Alam” Public Union was established in 2003, registered on May 26, 2006. The purpose of our activity is to prevent environmental pollution that causes climate change, to help solve environmental problems, and to raise awareness among the population. The directions in which the organization operates are environmental education, climate change, transparency. Our organization is a member of several local and international coalitions. In 2009-2023, he cooperated with the Council and later with the Agency and other donors, and implemented a number of educational projects. Within the framework of “Eko-Alam” PU projects, a number of educational printed materials, books, brochures and posters “Heartbeats of a tree”, “Getting to know a tree”, “Gender and Environmental education support”, “Ecological Culture and Tourism”, “What is climate change?” books such as “Smog” and “The World’s Waste Problem”, pamphlets such as “Save the Environment! Collect, clean, reduce waste!” poster, “Clean air – more trees” poster, “Rules of behavior in the forest” posters and distributed them during the events. Member of the EITI Coalition since 2011. In 2012, I was the coordinator of the EITI Coalition as the chairman of “Eko-Alam” and the project coordinator of the coalition. I have conducted a number of investigations and monitored the projects of both the coalition and my own organization. I was awarded an international certificate twice.
– How do you evaluate Azerbaijan’s ecotourism opportunities?
– Azerbaijan’s ecotourism opportunities are quite wide. Azerbaijan has rich and unique natural areas. This includes Azerbaijan’s history, traditions, cultural heritage, national cuisine, health and ecotourism places. It is a pity that they are not properly preserved and used. Other countries earn a lot of income from tourism in comparison. In our country, this potential is not only underestimated, but also not managed correctly, and only individuals benefit from it.
– In Azerbaijan, the issue of protecting water bodies and their bioresources is becoming more and more urgent. The position of sports fishing associations and experts, whose opinions we studied in this field, indicates the existence of such relevance. I would be interested to know your position on this.
– This topic has always been relevant and has always been brought up by environmental associations. The process of conservation of bioresources is almost paralyzed. Azerbaijan is located on the coast of a sea like the Caspian. However, our population hardly uses its resources. It is only a matter of time before the Caspian Sea becomes a dead sea. The main reason for its pollution is the failure to meet environmental requirements during the search, production and transportation of hydrocarbon resources in the sea, industrial waste, discharge of various pollutants into the sea with river waters, discharge of domestic waste water into the Caspian Sea without treatment, waste from floating vehicles, precipitation and irrigation of fertilizers used in agriculture. washing with its waters and flowing into the sea through rivers and canals brought it to this level. If we add here the pollution and littering brought by the Volga, Terek and Kura rivers, we will see how serious its situation is. According to the studies carried out in the Caspian Sea at one time, it was said that there were more than 100 species of fish. The Caspian Sea was a water body with a unique fishery. Now it has become very sad. I am not familiar with the sport fishing activity you are talking about. I don’t know what their goals are. Other than catching a couple of carp, taking pictures and sharing them, I haven’t seen any other activity. I’m always interested in watching the fishing videos on Discovery, especially Jeremy Wade. Caspian sturgeon and caviar are famous in the world. The main part of the Caspian ichthyofauna is made up of freshwater fish. They include bream and carp, bream, nagga, ivy, spiny nagga, sif, kingfish. These fish moved to Kura River to spawn. The Kura delta has been closed for years, the Kura River no longer reaches the Caspian Sea. But in the upper reaches of the Volga, giant sturgeon are still found. I watched Jeremy Wade’s video about this, he caught a 5 m long sturgeon. I saw such a fish when I was a child. I think there are good examples of the kind of sport fishing associations you mentioned.
– Which areas of the country’s water bodies are more polluted? What are the main causes of this pollution?
– Based on my information and what I have seen, I can say that there is no unpolluted water body. About the Caspian Sea, I mentioned the reasons for its pollution above. As for rivers, they are subject to pollution and littering throughout the country. Those who use the water of the rivers and engage in business and farming activities expose the water to chemical pollution, and the communities living on the banks of the rivers discharge their household waste into the rivers, canals, ditches. The cause of all pollution is the lack of ecological education of our people. This is due to the fact that he does not have an ecological culture, mainly because he does not have an ecological consciousness. We keep our house clean, we don’t think about the cleanliness of our street, city, and most importantly, our country. The reason for this is the problems related to waste management. This is an important problem that needs to be solved in the country. If we delay even a little, our country will become a garbage dump. From our top Chinese official to our ordinary citizen, everyone should raise their environmental culture.
– Can the control of the environmental protection of the tourist centers operating in the ecotourist places be considered satisfactory? It would be interesting to share your observations on such places you have visited.
– The situation in ecotourism places is also tense. For example, it is impossible to turn a blind eye to the fact that a hotel called Paradise Garden, which is built in a forest area of a place with a beautiful tourism important area like Altıağac, turns this place into a dump. The people who live there are very worried about this forest area and ask for help from anyone who comes. Whether it is a forest area or a beach, they occupy every place and sell it to people for money, but they are not responsible for the cleanliness of the area. If you’re going to make a profit here, take care to control the area and keep it clean. But don’t take it from one side and put it on the other side, solve the problem from the root. Personally, whenever I go to a beach area, the first thing I do is to collect the trash aside so that the sea water doesn’t wash it away. Several times we held an event in Absheron MP with schoolchildren, we collected the garbage brought by the waters on the shore of the Caspian Sea. I should also mention that the area of that park is an ecologically clean area, and all employees, including the head of Absheron MP, Etibar Bey, constantly collect the waste brought by the sea waters and control the cleanliness of the area. Seals can usually be observed in the territory of the park.
– What are your thoughts on what measures should be taken by relevant institutions to protect the cleanliness of ecotourism sites?
– First of all, it is necessary to strengthen activities in the field of waste collection and processing. Waste must be managed. Although the management methods are incineration, burial and recycling. The process of waste management is understood as the activity process in which these wastes are generated, as well as activities on their collection (collection), sorting, transportation, placement and processing, use, disposal, neutralization and burial. During waste management, it is possible to obtain recycled raw materials, and business activities can be built on it. This issue has already been resolved in a number of developed countries. There are good examples. In many countries, the problem of waste is already regulated: law-abiding citizens themselves sort the garbage and throw it in different bins, which are then sent for separate recycling according to their type. But in countries with a low level of civilization, people can only wish for such a situation. As it used to be in countries like ours, according to the old rules, special people are engaged in sorting garbage. Waste can be used to produce various products or to generate energy by incineration. Believe that if the places are clean, the ecotourism potential of our areas will increase many times. – What can be said about the protection of the environment and water bodies in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan? – It is no secret that the hated Armenians in Karabakh did not kill our people, destroyed our houses and cities, they committed more serious crimes. They killed our nature. They committed environmental terrorism in Karabakh as a whole. After liberation from the occupation, the relevant institutions have carried out a series of monitoring in order to assess the environmental situation. Cases of excessive pollution and poisoning of Okchuchay, destruction of our precious forests, cutting down of our thousand-year-old monument trees, etc. was observed. At present, the nature of Karabakh is undergoing resuscitation and experiencing the process of healing and recovery. Baby fish are released into water bodies, trees are planted. It is necessary to constantly monitor the ecological situation here. The origin and source of water basin pollutants should be determined and the consequences of pollution should be eliminated.
– What can we say about the need to monitor water bodies in the uncontrolled areas of Karabakh?
-If we take today’s events into consideration, hopefully, we will restore our rights over uncontrolled water bodies in the near future. We will conduct monitoring, assess the situation, and our state will take necessary measures. We need to carry out these works as soon as possible so that there is no uncontrolled territory.
– Our public associations and society are sounding the alarm about Sarsang Reservoir. What measures should be taken in this regard?
– I think we should restore our rights over the warehouse as soon as possible. Even after the 44-day war, the enemy threatened us by blowing up both the Mingachevir Reservoir and the Sarsang Reservoir. I also read some pictures and information about the Sarsang Water Reservoir on social networks. So far, the enemy has not used the reservoir effectively, or has tried to dry it up. This can lead to an ecological disaster in those areas. In 2022, we went to Sugovushan to investigate the state of the reservoir. The water level was very low. You know that Suguvushan Reservoir is fed from Sarsang.
Gogrud Agayev