On April 22-26, a round table (in a hybrid format) dedicated to the “Green World Solidarity Year” was held in Lachin city and Zabukh village on the topic “Study of the biodiversity of Eastern Zangazur and Karabakh” organized by the Institute of Botany of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The event took place at secondary school No. 2 and the Simurg library in Lachin. The event was attended by a group of scientists and specialists from the Institute of Botany, representatives of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the director of the school, as well as a team of teachers and students.

First, martyrs, who gave us the historical victory, were remembered with a minute of silence.

Opening the event with an introductory speech, the General Director of the Institute of Botany, Professor Sayyara Ibadullaeva, congratulated the residents of the Lachin on their return to our historical lands thanks to the deep policy and iron fist of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev and wished them good health and success in their work. The book “Forgotten recipes of folk medicine (from the memories of West Azerbaijan, Eastern Zangazur and Karabakh communities)” published within the framework of the scientific research project “Prospects of the use of medicinal plants distributed in the flora of Azerbaijan” with the aim of familiarizing the “Great Return” communities with the plants that spread in their area and teach them the ways of using these plants; and 3 booklets and 2 brochures containing the information on more than 100 medicinal plants used in the treatment of bees, poultry, and veterinary medicine common in the flora of Azerbaijan were presented in the training format and they were gifted to the school library as well as distributed among local communities. Head of the Department of Mycology and Primitive Plants of the Institute, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Dilzara Aghayeva, Head of the Algology and Lichenobryology Laboratory, PhD in Biology, Shakar Mukhtarova, Head of the Herbarium Department, PhD in Biology, Parvana Garakhani, Leading Researcher of the Department of Ethnobotany, PhD in Biology Nuri Movsumova and Aynur Bayramova (joined online) and others spoke about their research areas and answered the questions of teachers and students.

Then a meeting was held at the secondary school in the village of Zabukh and the Simurg library in Lachin; a number of books, booklets and brochures published by botanists were presented to these institutions.

During the visit, the botanists conducted an expedition in the territory of Lachin. Monitoring of the distribution of plants in the territory of Karabakh was carried out in connection with the implementation of the I State program on the Great Return, and rare, endemic, medicinal plants distributed in the area were studied, specimens of mushrooms and algae were collected. The results of the monitoring will be reflected in the book “Flora of Karabakh”, which is expected to be published at the end of the year.