Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Today Baku is one of the fastest changing cities of the world, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Director of the International Dialogue for Environmental Action (IDEA) said on October 31 at the session within the Third Baku International Humanitarian Forum.

"But in addition to the modern developments, we also have a very ancient history, culture, and traditions which we highly value," Leyla Aliyeva said at a session chaired by Education Minister Mikayil Jabbarov.

Aliyeva went on to note that Azerbaijan has always been home to many religions, nationalities, and traditions.

"Tolerance in Azerbaijan is not a new idea. It is part of our culture and life, and we don't know any other way of living," she said.

Aliyeva also noted that the Forum is a great opportunity to discuss various opinions and outlooks.

"And as a representative of the youngest participants in the Baku forum, it seems highly symbolic that I should be entrusted with representing the problems of sustainable development and ecological civilizations," she said.

Aliyeva also said that on one hand it was a positive challenge to be involved in environmental problems and the protection of the planet, while on the other hand everyone understood that there was no alternative.

"If man doesn't change his attitude towards environment, future ecological disasters will pose a threat to humanity. So when we put forward the initiative of an international dialogue for environmental actions a few years ago, it was our priority to draw the society's attention to the necessity of protecting our fragile environment," she said.

Aliyeva went on to say that in the last two years, the IDEA had realized many projects, not only in Azerbaijan and the region, but also throughout the world.

In particular, one of the initiatives was to plant three million trees which represented the young people living in Azerbaijan.

"This was a great way to bring young Azerbaijani people together to focus on environmental issues," she said.

Aliyeva also noted that the IDEA is involeved in partnership with UN's UNEP program. The IDEA also organizes seminars, distributes literary works, and supports local environmentalists in order to raise awareness in ordinary people.

Aliyeva said that the IDEA is involved in many campaigns that promote animal welfare. In particular, protection of rare species such as gazelle and Caucasian leopard is carried out in Azerbaijan.

"The IDEA has also held special classes for children, in which they learn more about the environment," she said. "We also had an international photo contest, titled "I Love Nature and I Fear Pollution", which involved more than 1,200 children from 90 countries around the world."

She went on to note that another contest, "No Water, No life" will be launched in 2014, where children will be able to express their views and concern for the environment.

"Our greatest resources are indeed the creativity, knowledge, and spirit of people who care about protecting our planet," she said.

Aliyeva said that capital and natural resources can dry up, but human intellect, which creates new technology, ideas, programs, and products, doesn't run dry.

She also expressed satisfaction that the subject of ecology would be touched upon in all the panels.

"I am glad that today ecological issues are gaining importance," she said, adding that by joining forces great results can be achieved in improving the ecological situation.

She expressed confidence that the forum will be very successful, productive, and interesting.

Other speakers included Director of the U.S. University of Rochester's Institute of Optics Xi-Cheng Zhang, President and vice-chancellor of Canadian Waterloo University Feridun Hamdullahpur, Russian President's Special Representative for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy, Professor of Medicine Chief, Division of Immunotherapy for Autoimmune Diseases of the U.S. Northeastern University Richard Burt, Principal at Australian Social Technologies Pty Ltd Frank Kemp Salter, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick Robert Skidelsky as well as Director General, and the CEO of Turkish Anatolian News Agency Kamal Ozturk.