Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Founder and head of the IDEA Public Association, Leyla Aliyeva, has met with Rory Moore, a marine biodiversity specialist at the Blue Marine Foundation, during his visit to Azerbaijan.

Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Aliyeva highlighted the works and achievements by IDEA in the field of protection of the environment in region.

She expressed concern about the ecological situation in the Caspian Sea, especially the recently observed degradation of its rich fauna and stressed the importance of benefiting from international experience as a way out of the situation.

“IDEA closely cooperates with the leading international experts specializing in the marine environment,” Aliyeva added.

Rory Moore, for his part, said Azerbaijan was famous for its rich fish stocks, adding there was potential for the development of this field in the country.

The British expert said he would analyze fish stocks in the Caspian Sea and in internal waters and would present his report to the IDEA Public Association.

The report will reflect recommendations on the recovery of biodiversity in the Caspian Sea.

Moore underlined the importance of the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies and the use of scientific methods for the improvement of the situation.

The Caspian Sea, with its rich natural resources, is a home to 80-85 percent of the world sturgeon, and also home to about 141 other fish species. However, this natural wonder is struggling with various problems, including pollution.

The Blue Marine Foundation is a UK-registered charity set up in 2010. BLUE exists to fix the largest solvable problem on the planet that is the crisis in the oceans.

The foundation aims to increase the amount of ocean under active and effective protection from the present figure of just over 2.8 percent to 10 percent by 2020.

For its part, IDEA is implementing large-scale local and international projects to protect the environment and to promote innovative approaches toward solving environmental problems.

During the years of activity, the organization has completed various projects, from tree-planting activities for young environmentalists and ordinary students, to the international photo contest for children called “Children’s Eyes on Earth,” represented by 1200 participants from 5 continents and 90 countries.

This summer, IDEA held a campaign under the slogan "Keep the beaches clean!" on one of the beach in Baku.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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