The total forest area of Azerbaijan is 1,021,880 ha or 11.8% of the country's area.[1][2] The forest biomes consist of temperate deciduous forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, temperate coniferous forests and riparian forests.[1] Specialists estimate that in the 8th-9th centuries the forest cover was around 30-35%, most of it situated in mountainous areas.[1][3]
While as a whole, Azerbaijan is a country with modest forest cover, the forest cover is unevenly spread across the country. In the low-lying areas, the forest cover is very sparse, also due to the fact that the precipitation is too low for trees and forests to grow in most of these areas; whereas in many mountainous areas, the forest cover is much greater especially in wetter areas.[1]
49% of the country's forests are located in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, 34% in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, 15% in the Talysh Mountains-Lankaran Lowland region, 2% in the Kur-Araz Lowland, and 0.5% in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.[1]
The forests are classified into two major ecoregions in Azerbaijan: the Caucasus mixed forests of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of the Talysh Mountains-Lankaran Lowland region.
- ^ a b c d e "Forests of the Republic of Azerbaijan". Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
- ^ Hasanov, Z.M.; Ibrahimov, Z.A.; Nabiyev, V.R. (2017-12-01). "Beech forests of Azerbaijan: The modern condition, age structure and regeneration". Annals of Agrarian Science. 15 (4): 453–457. doi:10.1016/j.aasci.2016.08.003. ISSN 1512-1887.
- ^ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2018). GARDENS of BIODIVERSITY: Conservation of genetic resources and their use in traditional food production systems by small farmers of the Southern Caucasus. Food & Agriculture Org. ISBN 978-9251066133.