National Parks of Azerbaijan
National Parks of Azerbaijan are run by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The first national park established was Zangezur National Park in 2003. Since then a further 8 national parks have been established; the most recent being the Samur-Yalama National Park in 2012.
The national parks are the public lands or bodies of water of special environmental, historical and other importance, which bear the status of governmental protection. They serve to the purposes of environmental protection, educational, scientific, cultural researches, etc.
As a country located in the Caucasus between the Black and Caspian Seas, Azerbaijan has a rich flora and fauna and widest biodiversity among the European states and enormous natural resources. The lands with specially protected ecosystems play the crucial roles in biodiversity preservation. The activity of such natural bodies promotes the preservation of rare and endangered species of plants and animals. Azerbaijan has a total of 9 national parks (as well as 13 state natural parks and 21 state reserves), which are listed in the table with the year of their establishment and their surface area.
The total surface area of the 9 national parks is 310,136.5 hectares (3,101.365 km2; 1,197.444 sq mi). In total more than 3,58% of Azerbaijan is under protection by the government as national parks.
The Zangezur National Park (it was renamed and expanded in 2009 from former Ordubad National Park) is characterized by rich biological diversity. It has 58 species of animals (35 of vertebrates and 23 of insects) and 39 species of plants which are included into the Red Book of Azerbaijan. The National Park comprises such rare and endangered species as Persian leopard, the mountain sheep-moufflon, bezoar goat, white-tail sea eagle, golden eagle, little bustard.
The Shirvan National Park has a semi-desert landscape and water body of approximately 40 square kilometres. The national park has an extremely rich ornithological fauna. Rare and valuable species of birds (turaj, little bustard, bustard, swans, flamingo, etc.) winter and nest in the marshy areas. Djeyran gazelles are the most widely spread mammals in the region.
Ag-Gol National Park is located in the Mil plain of the Kur-Araz lowlands, it has semi-desert landscape and deserved the title of a bird paradise, as the most important winter and nest place of birds. The ornithological fauna of this reserve is very rich. Over 140 species of birds are found in this place including 89 species of nesting birds (Partridge, spoonbill, swan, teal, bustard, etc.). Ag-Gol national park is designed to protect the marshy ecological systems, as the nesting and wintering places of migratory and water birds. Ag-Gol has been incorporated into the list of UNESCO's convention "On internationally important marshy areas as the residing places of birds"
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