Anthropogenic impacts on Ajinohur arid forests of Azerbaijan

Abstract

Degradation of forest resources and deforestation, insufficient satisfaction of society's needs and demands for environmental, social and economic goods and services, insufficient participation of stakeholders and cross-sector collaboration in forestry practices are the main challenges of forest management in Azerbaijan. One of the main factors influencing and changing arid ecosystems is human economic activity. Ajinohur arid forests are located in the southern part of the Ajinohur foothills of Azerbaijan between the Alijanchay and Goychay rivers. The total area of the Ajinohur foothills is 152544.53 ha, where arid forests are 9379.61 ha (6.14%), and lowland forests are 5182.14 ha (3.4%), mainly mountain-steppe landscape prevails here (81.6%). The arid forests of the Ajinohur foothills are intensively used for agriculture, and therefore, are subject to strong anthropogenic impact. In this regard, in 2021–2022, we conducted research on the study of the current ecological state of arid forests, compiled maps using GIS technologies. It was established that, according to the degree of anthropogenic impact and the level of transformation, the landscapes of the Ajinohur arid forests are divided into the following groups: unaltered (7.2% of the total area), slightly modified (83.34%) and intensively modified (9.42%) landscapes. The ecological state of lowland forests is more unsatisfied compared to dry woodlands, where landscapes with a critical ecological state account for 57.31%.

Keywords

• anthropogenic pressure
• transformation
• ajinohur
• lowland forests
• dry woodlands