A forest in Azerbaijan's Ismayilly region, around 160 km west from Baku

Azeri people often use illegally cut trees for heating their homes. Although this practice decreased in recent years due to legislative ban for deforestation and awareness campaigns, nevertheless people still cut forests illegally

A forest in Azerbaijan’s Gabala region

A forest in Azerbaijan’s Gabala region

Illegal deforestation is a serious problem in Azerbaijan. In poor areas of the country, people rely more on forests

School-children monitoring the forest. Children’s engagement in the protection of environment has been organized in the Republican Centre of Environmental Education

(Photo: FLEG)

School-children monitoring the forest. Children’s engagement in the protection of environment has been organized in the Republican Centre of Environmental Education

The nursery garden of the Republican Centre of Environmental Education in Baku, where teachers work with their students, organizing study-tours and planting-tree actions

(Photo: Shain Abbasov – ENPI Info Centre)

The nursery garden of the Republican Center of Environmental Education in Baku

A young forester, Sahavat Huseynov. The 14-year-old says that "the future is in our hands. From how we will protect plants and forests, how we will prevent deforestation,  it depends very much the environment we will be living in”

(Photo: Shain Abbasov – ENPI Info Centre)

Sahavat Huseynov, a secondary school pupil and a “young forester”. “The future is in our hands. From how we will protect plants and forests, prevent deforestation, it depends very much on the environment we will be living in," says the 14-year-old

Waterfall in the Gakh region’s forest, where school-children clean the area. Kids are actively involved in protection of the forests both in the provinces and towns, as part of the EU-funded FLEG programme

Azer Garayev, the FLEG project’s National Consultant in Azerbaijan believes that among the reasons behind the unsustainable use of forests since the mid 1990 is the raise of unemployment and poverty level, the lack of energy resources and sudden development of livestock farming

Lala Dadasheva, the FLEG project’s education consultant in Azerbaijan

(Photo: Shain Abbasov – ENPI Info Centre)

Azad Aliyev, scientific consultant on social and economic analysis of the FLEG program in Azerbaijan. He says that not only deforestation does not lead to a better life for local residents, but also causes negative environmental consequences

(Photo: Shain Abbasov – ENPI Info Centre)

FLEG program’s monitoring in the forest in the Ismayilly region

A tree marked by the “Young foresters” team