Pakistani public organizations uphold Azerbaijan’s environmental activists

Pakistan’s Youth Diplomacy Forum and Global Strategic Institute for Sustainable Development (GSISD) public organizations have supported Azerbaijani environmental activists over the situation around the Lachin road, Trend reports citing the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF – ERC).

The agencies noted that ecologists and volunteers must be allowed to monitor the area, and the natural resource exploitation could only be carried out in accordance with the legislation of Azerbaijan.

“Ending environmental terrorism and bringing those responsible to justice will help maintain peace in the region,” the GSISD said.

The Youth Diplomacy Forum has called for the establishment of conditions for monitoring the landmine threat situation, posing a danger not only to people’s lives, but also damaging the environment.

Representatives of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been protesting near Shusha, close to the Russian peacekeepers’ temporary deployment area. The protest is being held against the inadmissibility of Azerbaijani specialists to the territory, to monitor the illicit exploitation of the country’s mineral resources.

Following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers’ command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, on December 10, 2022.

The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental condition at the ‘Gizilbulagh’ gold deposit and the ‘Damirli’ copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.

However, when arriving in the monitoring area, the expert group, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions and prevented for the entire process to carry on.