On November 25, the IDEA campaign will launch an international environmental camp in Gabala.

On November 25 in Gabala, the “International Camp of Young Environmentalists” on the theme “The Role of Youth in Environmental Management: Today and Tomorrow” will begin its work.

The camp, organized within the framework of the international IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) campaign, will conclude on November 26.

The IDEA campaign (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) was launched on July 12, 2011, at the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and head of the Russian Azerbaijani Youth Organization. The main goal of the campaign is to bring young people together, inform them, and motivate them to live in harmony with the environment.

Speakers at the event will include Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and initiator of the IDEA campaign; Huseyngulu Baghirov, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan; Azad Rahimov, Minister of Youth and Sports; Fikret Akcura, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative in Azerbaijan; Rafiq Huseynzade, Vice President for Environmental Affairs of SOCAR; Lisa Bardwell, President and Executive Director of Earth Force Organization (USA); and Omar Faruk, Director of EcoMuslim Organization.

Over the next two days, participants will discuss the most pressing environmental issues in various panels, with reports presented by both international organizations and Azerbaijani experts.

Panel guests will include Vugar Allahverdiyev, Advisor to the Energy and Environment Division of UNDP Azerbaijan; Lisa Bardwell, Executive Director of Earth Force Organization; Piero Pelizzaro, Head of International Cooperation at the Kyoto Club (Italy); Ogtay Mammadov, Head of Project Management and Public Relations Department at “Clean City” JSC; Ross Marshall, Head of the National Service for Environmental Assessment of England and Wales; Ruslan Aliyev, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Ecology at Moscow State Institute of International Relations; and Jerome Glenn, Co-founder and Director of the Millennium Project.

It should be noted that this is the first large-scale event of the IDEA campaign. Within the framework of the campaign, various environmental events, conferences, youth camps, and other activities are planned. More detailed information about the camp program can be found on the IDEA website and the official Facebook page of the organization.

Recall that on October 21, at the Hilton Baku hotel, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the United Nations Development Program within the framework of IDEA, titled “Mobilizing Azerbaijani Youth in Preparation for the Rio+20 Summit in 2012.”

Within the framework of the IDEA environmental campaign, the year 2011 has been declared the Ecology Month under the slogan “Let’s Protect the Environment.”