A team of Azerbaijani schoolchildren, which will represent our country at the International Geography Olympiad, held another lesson in preparation for the fourth week of the summer school at the Institute of Geography on the topic “The role of geography in the development of Azerbaijan.”

The director general of the institute, Professor Zakir Eminov, made an opening speech and spoke about the role of geography in our country, the adaptation processes in Azerbaijan in connection with climate change, the state of water bodies, the lack of drinking water and ways to solve this problem. He also mentioned the process of the “Great Return”, the revival of lands and ecosystems liberated from occupation, and the role of geographers in this process.

Executive Director of the Institute, Assoc. Zaur Imrani spoke about urban planning in Karabakh and the role of geographers in this work, about the participation of doctoral students of the institute in international exchanges in the field of education and their scientific activities.

Junior researcher Nazim Garayli made a report on the topic “The role of artificial intelligence in geography”, the use of modern technologies to create digital maps, the use of artificial intelligence in making synoptic forecasts, scientific research conducted by young scientists and answered their questions.

The team that will represent our country at the next XX International Olympiad in Geography in the Irish city of Maynot from August 19 to 24 this year is a permanent participant in the project that won the VII grant competition in the field of education.

Despite the project ending in May, Yashar Seidaliyev, winner of the III grant competition for development and innovation in education “Preparing students of the Faculty of Geography for the International Olympiad in Geography (iGeo)” and the leader of the iGeo Azerbaijan team, on his own initiative has continued for many years preparing the team for the competitions.

According to Yashar Seidaliev, although the law “On Education” of Azerbaijan Republic has an article on international prestigious subject Olympiads, “Geography” is not included in the list of prestigious international subject Olympiads, which is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The absence of this subject in the list of Olympiads hinders the development of geography in our country. “However, it is a big support for us that the ARTI Olympic Center covers the costs of our team’s participation in iGeo,” he said.