By Vestnik Kavkaza
International Mountain Day is traditionally celebrated on December 11. Moscow-Baku video conference "Attraction of mountains: environment and tourism" was devoted to this event. Experts told about what we need to know, going into the mountains and how to preserve the unique nature of the mountains of the Caucasus.
According to the scientist of the Geographic Department of MSU Dmitry Botavin, “now there is global warming, and in this regard, many routes that were popular in the 60's and 70's, that is, in Soviet times, now, because of global warming, due to the fact that the glaciers began to retreat, are quite dangerous, there are large landslides there. Winters become warmer, and when it comes to climbing or skiing in the winter, there is a lot of snow, and an avalanche can be caused. As for skiing and snowboarding – these are quite public events, they may be less demanding in terms of special physical training, but at the same time it is a problem, because people simply underestimate the danger.”
Chingiz Ismailov, professor of the Baku State University, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, told about peculiarities of the Azerbaijani mountains: “Azerbaijan is bordered in the north, south-west and south by mountain ranges. From the north there is the Greater Caucasus, from the south-west - the Lesser Caucasus, and in the south, on the border with Iran, there is the Talish mountain system. About 20% of population live in the mountainous areas. Naturally, the mountains require a proper relationship to the resources of the mountains, because the mountains are very vulnerable and fragile. With regard to unsustainable mountain resources, of course, this can lead to undesirable environmental consequences.
In Azerbaijan now there is the completion of a major tourist center on the slopes of the Greater Caucasus in the Kusary district. I mean the Shahdagh tourist complex. In the Caucasus, until now there have been no such complexes. The state has invested about $ 2 billion in it. With the support of foreign specialists a very interesting slalom route was built. I think it will be attractive not only for residents, citizens of Azerbaijan, but also for the whole Caucasus region. The variety of Azerbaijani climatic mountain areas allows the development of mountain tourism both in summer and in winter. Traditionally, mountaineering was developed mainly in the summer months. Now it is dominant there, too. Our main centers, tourist centers, are mainly located in the coastal areas – for instance, in the Absheron or Khachmaz districts - and, of course, in the mountainous areas.
The Greater Caucasus is different from the Lesser Caucasus. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic is bordered on the north-east by a mountain system. This enables development, although Nakhichevan is in siege, but there is growing mountain tourism, and not only local residents, but also residents of Iran, Turkey and the neighboring regions of these countries come there. Azerbaijan tries to use all the opportunities of the mountains, of course, with a focus on compliance with environmental regulations. As I noted, unreasonable and unsustainable use of mountain resources may result in soil erosion or landslides. Therefore, any construction provides for mandatory preliminary environmental assessment, and these issues are observed.
For several years in Tbilisi a center that works with the financial and institutional support of the EU, called REC "Caucasus", has worked. It includes representatives of the Ministries of Environment, academic circles and NGOs. Its center is located in Tbilisi, and the council of representatives gather twice a year and develop joint programs of cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. I myself am also a member of the council, and on December 14th there will be another meeting in Tbilisi. We are considering a joint program for the use and protection of transborder rivers; I have tried for several years to push this project on management of mountain resources near the junction of the three states, in particular, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia - on the border of the Balakan district, Georgia and the Dagestani administrative region. We wanted to carry out a joint project with Russia, as I recall, with Kabardino-Balkaria, and our counterpart was willing to participate, but we did not manage to do this. I think that for Azerbaijan, Georgia too, such projects are important, especially in mountain areas. The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range is a boundary between Azerbaijan and Russia which connects and disconnects our countries. The boundary is, you know, the Samur River. For Azerbaijan, it is very important how efficiently the resources of this river are used. I visited Makhachkala a few years ago, and there we discussed creating reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Samur. The distribution of water resources, of course, affects the interests of Azerbaijan, because there is an intergovernmental agreement on transborder rivers. I think that in the area of water conservation, sustainable management and proper distribution among the states, we can make such joint projects on the upper reaches of the Samur in the border regions of Dagestan and Azerbaijan. For Azerbaijan and Dagestan this is very important, because, you know, there is a difficult situation in Dagestan, and involvement of the scientific community and NGOs of the region in such joint projects will contribute to improving the situation as a whole in Dagestan and to rational use of natural resources.
I myself am a highlander. It is therefore very important, of course, to comply with environmental regulations to protect the fauna of mountain areas. So, I think,monitoring the border areas from the point of view of the fauna is very important for Azerbaijan and Russia in terms of tourism and in terms of preventing poaching. I think it would be very interesting to carry out some joint projects, especially environmental ones, in the mountainous area between Azerbaijan and Russia. I think if the Russian side would be interested in it, it will be possible to propose such projects at the level of local NGOs and representatives of science, and if there is a mutual interest, they will be implemented. Both Dagestan as part of Russia and Azerbaijan will benefit from this.
