Editing Geography of Azerbaijan (section)

== Environmental problems <span class="anchor" id="Environmental issues"></span>==
{{main|Environmental issues in Azerbaijan}}
[[Image:Flooding in Azerbaijan.jpg|thumb|300px|Subtle changes due to falling sea level (in the [[Caspian Sea]]) can be seen along this coastline.]]
Air and water pollution are widespread and pose great challenges to economic development.<ref name=":0" /> Major sources of pollution include oil refineries and chemical and metallurgical industries, which in the early 1990s continued to operate as inefficiently as they had in the Soviet era.<ref name=":0" /> Air quality is extremely poor in Baku, the center of oil refining.<ref name=":0" /> Some reports have described Baku's air as the most polluted in the former Soviet Union, and other industrial centers suffer similar problems.<ref name=":0" />

The Caspian Sea, including Baku Bay, has been polluted by oil leakages and the dumping of raw or inadequately treated sewage, reducing the yield of caviar and fish.<ref name=":0" /> In the Soviet period, Azerbaijan was pressed to use extremely heavy applications of pesticides to improve its output of scarce subtropical crops for the rest of the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" /> The continued regular use of the pesticide DDT in the 1970s and 1980s was an egregious lapse, although that chemical was officially banned in the Soviet Union because of its toxicity to humans.<ref name=":0" /> Excessive application of pesticides and chemical fertilizers has caused extensive [[groundwater pollution]] and has been linked by Azerbaijani scientists to birth defects and illnesses.<ref name=":0" /> Rising water levels in the Caspian Sea, mainly caused by natural factors exacerbated by man-made structures, have reversed the decades-long drying trend and now threaten coastal areas; the average level rose {{convert|1.5|meters|feet}} between 1978 and 1993.<ref name=":0" /> Because of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, large numbers of trees were felled, roads were built through pristine areas, and large expanses of agricultural land were occupied by military forces.<ref name=":0" />

Like other former Soviet republics, Azerbaijan faces a gigantic environmental cleanup complicated by the economic uncertainties left in the wake of the Moscow-centered planning system.<ref name=":0" /> The Committee for the Protection of the Natural Environment is part of the Azerbaijani government, but in the early 1990s it was ineffective at targeting critical applications of limited funds, establishing pollution standards, or monitoring compliance with environmental regulations.<ref name=":0" /> Early in 1994, plans called for Azerbaijan to participate in the international Caspian Sea Forum, sponsored by the European Union (EU).<ref name=":0" />

; Natural hazards:
: Droughts and floods; some lowland areas threatened by rising levels of the Caspian Sea
; Environment – current issues:
: Local scientists consider the Abseron Yasaqligi (Apsheron Peninsula) (including Baky and Sumqayit) and the Caspian Sea to be the ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air, water, and [[soil contamination|soil pollution]]; soil pollution results from the use of [[DDT]] as a pesticide and also from toxic defoliants used in the production of [[Cotton production in Azerbaijan|cotton]].
; Environment – international agreements
:* Party to: [[Air Pollution]], [[Biodiversity]], Climate Change, [[Desertification]], Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands