OMM Newsroom
Azerbaijan is establishing Garabagh National Park.
President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on the matter, Operative Information Center-OMM reports.
The document aims to expand the network of specially protected natural areas, establish new protected areas in the liberated territories, promote and raise international awareness of the region’s rich ecosystem and natural heritage, restore and preserve biodiversity, boost socio-economic opportunities through the sustainable use of natural resources, and develop ecotourism.
Under the order, Garabagh National Park will cover 88,418.00 hectares, as shown in the land-use plan attached to the document. The area comprises 44,773.79 hectares of state-owned land in Aghdara district, 24,597.80 hectares in Khojaly district, 13,514.98 hectares in Kalbajar district, 5,314.34 hectares in Shusha district and 217.09 hectares in Lachin district. The land will be designated as belonging to the category of specially protected areas.
The Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to resolve matters arising from the document.
The order states that the Garabagh and East Zangazur economic regions have historically possessed a rich and distinctive natural heritage.
During the period these territories were under Armenian occupation, their biodiversity suffered serious damage, and rare plant and animal species listed in Azerbaijan’s Red Book and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List were wiped out. This led to an overall disruption of the region’s ecological balance.
Since the Patriotic War, measures have been taken to restore the ecological balance in the liberated territories, including their natural ecosystems and rich biodiversity, rebuild specially protected natural areas, and turn the region into a clean-environment and “green growth” zone.
As part of the Great Return, operations have resumed at the Basitchay State Nature Reserve in Zangilan district, within the East Zangazur economic region, and the Dashalti State Nature Sanctuary in the administrative territories of Shusha and Khojaly districts, within the Garabagh economic region.
