PART I: Biodiversity status, trends and threats and
implications for human well-being
1.1 Context
Azerbaijan’s National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity has been prepared in
accordance with Article 26 of the Convention and COP decision X/10 of the Convention,
whereby parties are required to submit their fifth national reports by 30 March 2014. The
structure of the report is based on the Guidelines for the Fifth National Report published by the
Convention.
Azerbaijan is bordered by Georgia to the north-west, Russia to the north, Iran to the south, and
Armenia to the south-west and west (see Map 1 below). A small part of Nakhchivan also
borders Turkey to the north-west.
Map 1: Physical map of Azerbaijan
Geographically, Azerbaijan is dominated by the Caspian Sea forming its eastern border, the
Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, the Lesser Caucasus in the southwest, the Talish
Mountains to the south and the extensive flatlands in the centre of the country. About 60
percent of the country consists of mountains and their foothills; the elevation changes over a
relatively short distance from lowlands to highlands. Except for its eastern Caspian shoreline
and some areas bordering Georgia and Iran, Azerbaijan is surrounded by mountains. The
highest elevations occur in the Greater Caucasus, where Mount Bazarduzu rises to 4,466 metres
above sea level. Eight large rivers flow from the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Ranges into the
central Kura-Araz lowlands, named after Azerbaijan’s longest river, the Kura, and its main
tributary, the Araz. The Kura drains into the
Caspian, forming a delta a short distance
downstream from the junction with the Araz.
Azerbaijan is the largest (with a total land
surface area of ~86,600 km²) and most
populous country (with a population of ~9.3
million) in the Southern Caucasus. The
greatest concentration of the population is
found in the coastal areas, with more than 4
million people located in and around the
capital, Baku.
Azerbaijan has a special administrative sub-
division - the Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic - separated from the rest of
Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian territory. In
addition, Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7
adjacent districts have been occupied by
Armenia in Azerbaijan’s southwest, for more
than 20 years. The occupied area constitutes
~20% of the total territory of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is situated at the juncture of several
bio-geographical areas (the Eastern Palaeartic,
Turan, the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and the
Middle East) and contains species of
European, Central Asian and Mediterranean
origin. The country forms an integral part of
the Caucasus Ecoregion, a region with
exceptional levels of biodiversity (WWF’s
Global 200). Azerbaijan also shares the largest
inland body of water in the world, the Caspian
Sea, with four other countries (Russia, Iran,
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan). The biological
diversity of the Caspian Sea and its coastal
zone makes the region particularly significant.
One of the most important characteristics of
the Caspian Sea’s biodiversity is the relatively
high level of endemic species among its fauna.
Approximately 4,500 species of vascular
plants have been recorded in the country, of
which 210 are considered endemic to
Azerbaijan. This represents around 65% of the
floral diversity of the Caucasus region.
Azerbaijan is considered to be a center of
origin for a number of globally important food
crops. It is especially noted for fruit and nut
trees, and the forests of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains and the Talish Mountains
contain wild ancestors of apples, persimmons, walnuts, chestnuts, pistachios and many other
species that have been widely domesticated into many different varieties and strains.
Shortly after Azerbaijan’s independence, Armenia
militarily
occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
and its
surrounding territories.
Although the UN General Assembly resolution
A/RES/62/244 of 14 March 2008 affirms that no
State shall recognize as lawful the situation
resulting from this occupation, Armenia however
still illegally exercises effective control over
Nagorno-Karabakh and the occupied territories.
The fifth national report includes these occupied
territories as an integral part of the internationally
recognized borders of Azerbaijan.
The 5 countries bordering the Caspian Sea have
not yet unanimously agreed on its legal status.
Currently the coastal countries operate in a mix of
unilateral and bilateral actions, based on
differing economic and political interests. Given
the lack of an agreement on whether the Caspian
is a 'lake' or a 'sea', two sets of public
international law could apply.
If the Caspian is a 'sea' in legal terms, coastal
countries would apply the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982
(UNCLOS). Under UNCLOS, if the Caspian is a legal
'sea', each littoral state receives a territorial sea
up to twelve nautical miles, an exclusive economic
zone (EEZ) up to nautical 200 miles, and a
continental shelf. Since the Caspian at its widest is
less than 200 miles, UNCLOS dictates the states
apply a median line between claimants.
If the Caspian is legally defined as a 'lake', the
countries could use the international law
concerning border lakes to set boundaries and
regulate the use of border water.
The fifth national report thus limits its reporting
to the country’s participation in the conservation
of the Caspian Sea under the Framework
Convention for the Protection of the Marine
Environment of the Caspian Sea
(the ‘Tehran
Convention’) – and its ancillary Protocols - which
entered into force in 2006.