FAIREX: Less In, More Out (LIMO)
Project Status: 2014-2017
Location: Azerbaijan
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Every time we or any of our Air and Extreme Sports Federation of Azerbaijan (FAIREX) members participate in mountain climbing, trekking or camping in natural preserved areas we state the aim to return back with more garbage than produced by our activity. That means we not only leave the route and place of camping free of any garbage but take waste already there with us.
We also plan our routes strategically through potential clean-up areas, zones with ecosystems most impacted by garbage and places where garbage deposits stay due to landfall issues.
CONTRIBUTION TO MOUNTAIN PROTECTION
By implementing and spreading the ideas of LIMO, involving more people into the project has a huge effect: the Federation is raising more awareness and understanding from all stakeholders regarding the issue. For climbers, hikers, local habitats, service personnel in preserve areas, the importance of ecological aspects are becoming more important and the promotion of sustainable waste management and disposal is a crucial issue. The LIMO project conception is not only designed to take waste from preserved areas, but it also provides a full picture of all stages in which waste deposition is involved and highlights the places where the waste might be accumulated (even away from the main routes).
Over the last three years and since the project was presented at a UIAA meeting in Baku, LIMO has achieved the following results:
- Babadag summit track – 14kg metal and plastic garbage collected in 2014 and 8kg garbage collected in 2016
- Kedabek Mountains track – 4kg plastic garbage collected
- Altiagach trip – 6 kg plastic garbage collected
- Pirgulu track – 8 kg metal and plastic garbage collected
- Shakhdag summit climbing – 3kg plastic garbage collected in 2014 and 2kg garbage collected in 2016
- Heydar zirvesi summit climbing – about 8 kg extra garbage collected during 2014 and 2015
- Nabran Camping – 10kg metal and plastic garbage collected
- Tfan summit climbing – 1kg plastic garbage collected
- Shabran track – 2 kg extra garbage collected
- Goy-Gol National Park – 25 kg of plastic garbage collected from mountain lake shore. In-house lecture organized for the people visiting the lake at the time of the event. Many of National park visitors joined the initiative. This event was covered in media what caused me people involved in environment care.
- Khinalig mountain track – 3kg of plastic garbage collected
- Quba – Altiagach hiking track – 6kg of plastic garbage collected
This data is based only on actual two club members counting and does not include the significant effort of other clubs joined the initiative or people visiting sites.
Please note, at high altitude every extra kg requires a significant effort to collect.
BENEFIT FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
The main benefit of this project is the preservation of the mountains in their natural state. ClimbClub/Rockstone clubs members believe that benefits go not only to the local communities who live there now, but also to the future generation. FAIREX member clubs initiatives encourage local communities, officials or authority involvement and is supported by national authorities, such as the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Reserves of Azerbaijan and the Shagdag National Park.
We plan to implement this initiative for all mountaineering clubs in Azerbaijan and periodically organize environmental tracking and camping into preserve areas.
We are also preparing a presentation demonstrating how the mountaineering environment and landscape reacts to alien objects such as plastic and which areas of ecosystem is most impacted by garbage and determine which areas would benefit from LIMO clean up activity.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
Individual FAIREX RockStone/Climb Clubs have set up LIMO with the aim to decrease the impact of littered mountain areas and reduce the existing garbage at sites.
Our concrete objectives are:
– Make Azerbaijan mountains and nature reserves cleaner
– Spread an environmentally-friendly culture
– Lead by example
– Create positive habit for the new generation
CONTACT
Less In, More Out
Fidan Mammadova
E: tweety17@mail.ru
W: http://www.fairex.az
