Research and Publications
Time Partner organization Description
2014-to present World Wilde Foundation
TEEB Scoping Study for the Forestry Sector of Azerbaijan
The scoping study makes a preliminary analysis of the ecosystem services provided by forested areas in Azerbaijan. In order to analyze the ecosystem services of forests, “Business as Usual” (BAU) and “Sustainable Ecosystem Management” (SEM) analytical approaches have been used. Under BAU management, we understand non-planned and non-sustained use of natural resources that gives only short-term gains. In this type of management, some stakeholders may maximize their benefits for short-term periods, causing financial and social damages to ecosystems and other stakeholders. Under SEM management economic benefits are maximized through planned and integrated use of natural resources.
2012-2013 Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, Blacksmith Institute
National Toxic Action plan for Azerbaijan
The National Toxics Action Plan (NTAP) is a strategic framework spearheaded by the Blacksmith Institute and Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP). The NTAP endeavors to effectively integrate the issue of toxic pollution into national planning. Blacksmith and member countries make use of existing toxic site inventories, including those developed as part of the Toxic Sites Identification Program (TSIP), to prioritize pollution problems for action. Member countries draft NTAPs in a participatory process that includes various stakeholders and GAHP coordinators, including Blacksmith Institute.
2012-To present Blacksmith Institute
Toxic Site identification program
The Toxic Site Identification Program (TSIP) endeavors to identify and screen contaminated sites in low- and middle-income countries with potential human health impacts. As part of the TSIP, more than 120 sites have been screened in Azerbaijan. An additional 100 sites have been identified for future screening.
2012 - to present United Nations Development Program
The goal of this project is to sensitize the water management policies to the long term risks of climate change. The objective of the proposed project is to reduce the vulnerability of the communities of the Greater Caucasus region of Azerbaijan to water stress and hazards by improved water and flood management.
August 2010-August 2011
The case of the Caspian Sea level time series demonstrates that both the long-range dependence and some secular long term trends may exist together in geophysical phenomena. Even after removing the long term trend from the Caspian Sea level time series, the residual time series still demonstrate long-range dependent behavior. The confidence bands of the forecasts are estimated using the probability density functions of the residuals without assuming a known distribution.
May, 2010-August, 2011
Indexing the Environmental Vulnerability of Mountain Streams in Azerbaijan.
A simple environmental vulnerability assessment scheme is developed and illustrated using several streams in Azerbaijan as examples. Vulnerability of a river ecosystem is defined in terms of a combined impact of pressure factors such as water withdrawals, pollution, climate change impact on flow variability, and land use. These factors are used to measure the sensitivity of various elements/components of the system to impacts.
February 2009 - June 2010
Environmental Security and Resource Management in the Caspian Region, Curricula Development.
This course has an integrative character and contains ecological, environmental, economical and political knowledge. For the first time, the authors of the project looked at the Caspian region as an entire educational area. The course was delivered to take into consideration only the regional interests of Caspian countries since regional or global approach is the best way to solve environmental problems and protect environmental security.
2008 International Lake Environmental Committee, Japan
Analysis of non-climatic origins of floods in the downstream part of the Kura River, Azerbaijan.
More recently, there are numerous non-climatic factors occurring in and around the Kura River basin that have increased the frequency of floods. Sediment accumulation in the riverbed over a long period of time has led to the reduction of channel capacity and has raised the elevation of the riverbed above the surrounding territory. Results show that high rates of hydraulic conductivity of soils will decrease MAF rates. MAF computations before high-water season allow for further regulation of outlets further downstream in order to prevent flooding and enable flood forecasting. While the study focuses on a specific region, the overall approach suggested is generic and may be applied elsewhere.
2006-2007 Institute of Water Research, Michigan State University, USA
Introducing environmental thresholds into water withdrawal management of mountain streams in the Kura River basin, Azerbaijan.
The study aims to set and implement environmentally relevant limits for the exploitation of mountain streams in the Kura River basin of Azerbaijan. Such streams represent the preferred spawning grounds for valuable sturgeon of the Caspian Sea, but experience continuously increasing exploitation in the form of water withdrawals for industry and irrigation. Since no detailed environmental flow assessments have been conducted on any of the Kura basin streams, an interim approach is suggested based on minimum flow, referred to as "base environmental minimum". The latter may be estimated from the unregulated parts of observed or simulated daily flow.