Biodiversity is worth attention!

The agro-biodiversity of the Caucasus, if not protected and preserved, can disappear. To combat this regional and global (by extension) crisis with the financial support from EU Delegation Slow Food launched COVCHEG project which is an invaluable opportunity to map and promote the country’s agricultural and food diversity.

Feel free to contribute by nominating biodiversity elements into Ark of Taste Contest!

The project is a EU funded project coordinated by Slow Food in partnership with Animal protection Public Union (APPU) and the National Association of Rural Municipalities of Azerbaijan (NARMA). The pilot project area includes five districts, part of the Shaki-Zaqatala and Daglig-Shirvan economic regions: Shamakhi, Ismaili, Gabala, Shaki and Qakh.

In these territories the project will consider specifically two main intervention sectors, agriculture and gastronomic tourism, contributing to valorisation of identities and local gastronomy, conservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage, and sustainable livelihoods potential. It will not only advance knowledge and skills of beneficiaries but will result in specific food chain development model and tourism products and practices of the pilot districts, and, in overall, will serve as model for further multiplication nation-widely. In longer term it will positively influence the state of natural resources and social environment, decrease levels of unemployment and out-migration as well as strengthen resilience of the territories.