Azerbaijan
Geographic location
The Republic of Azerbaijan is an ancient country, situated between the continents of Europe and Asia in the southeast of the Caucasus region. It is located on the western shores of the Caspian, to the northwest of the Persian Plateau. It has borders with five countries; the Dagestan Republic of the Russian Federation in the north ,Georgia in the north-west the Republic of Armenia and Turkey in the west, and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the south. There is approximately 800 lm of coastline along the Caspian shore in the east. The average height of the country is 657 m above sea level, however 18% of the country is below sea level.
Water resources ,Climate and Population
The main sources of water in Azerbaijan are the surface waters. However, only 24 of the 8350 rivers are longer than 100 km in length. All the rivers drain into the Caspian Sea in the east of the country, through three main river basins – the Caspian Basin, (rivers draining directly into the Caspian), the Kura basin (in western and central Azerbaijan) and the Araz basin.
Azerbaijan is a country of varies climates, although is predominately subtropical. On average, there are 1900-2900 hours of sunshine annually (approximately 5-8 hours daily sunshine).
The population is about 9,000 inhabitants.About 12% of the population is made up of refuges and internally displaced people (IDP). Most of these people have a very poor standard of living, and are housed inn temporary settlements in unsanitary conditions. Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan is the main port of the Caspian Sea, and is connected with the ports of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan by ship and ferry routes.
Political Structure and Situation
In 1989 Azerbaijan was one of the first Soviet Republics after the Baltic States to declare its national sovereignty. Azerbaijan gained its formal independence from the Soviet Union on the 18th October 1991.
Infrastructure and Development
The formation of new market relations, and increase in demand for oil at the world market, stimulated the development of the oil industry on the Absheron peninsula in the late nineteenth century, subsequently attracting foreign investment.
Foreign investment into infrastructure has included reconstruction works on part of the TRACECA – international transport corridor (connecting Europe and Asia through the Caicasus), construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline, and the Baku Arzurum gas export pipeline.
Related Projects
Support of climate protection via sustainable energy by training and capacity building of local partner NGOs in Caucasus and Central Asia and networking between them
„Förderung des Klimaschutzes durch nachhaltige Energie mittels Training, Kapazitätsausbau und Vernetzung lokaler NRO-Partner im Kaukasus und in Zentralasien“
04.11.2010
Remote Communities in Azerbaijan
Community Approaches to a Better Environment for All and Poverty Reduction in Out of Reach Communities
26.05.2010
Empowerment & Local Action (ELA) Azerbaijan
Building the capacity of poor local communities in rural areas in Azerbaijan
13.04.2010
