The Republic of Azerbaijan is a transcontinental country located at the boundary between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia (Republic of Dagestan) to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city.
Azerbaijan forms an integral part of the Caucasus Ecoregion, a region with exceptional levels of biodiversity. Azerbaijan is also located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland body of water. One of the most valuable characteristics of Caspian biodiversity is high endemism.
The Azerbaijan National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) aims to form an essential knowledge ground for the management, use, and protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services that are important at the national and subnational levels. NEA will help policy makers to improve existing ecosystem management policies and create new grounds for management approaches.
NEA’s key policy questions cover all spheres of the science-policy interface and process of Government design making. The key policy questions were identified during the scoping phase with the participation of experts and stakeholders, and focused on the status of ecosystems, the relationship between people, economy and ecosystems. The questions also concern future trends and needed policies and activities regarding the sustainable use of selected ecosystems.
The establishment of the National Biodiversity Platform (NBP) was an essential part of the NEA process. NBP is a platform created by stakeholders, which include academia, NGOs, government, and community representatives. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) is the main coordinating authority, and the Azerbaijan Branch Office of the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus) is an implementing agency for the NBP. NBP supports science-policy dialogues on issues related to biodiversity and ecosystem services, fosters the dialogue between science and policy, and thereby seeks to stimulate the biodiversity research community to address policy or user relevant questions and inform national stakeholders on NEA processes. In carrying out its functions and exercising its rights, the NBP interacts with central and local executive authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan, local self-government entities, academia, various scientific research institutes, and works in mutual cooperation with international and non-governmental organizations.
