Speeches by heads of “round tables” to be held within the framework of the 3^rd Baku International Humanitarian Forum were heard, October 31.

Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and director of IDEA – International Dialogue for Environmental Action, Leyla Aliyeva, who is going to head the “round table” on the theme of “Sustainable development and ecological civilization”, said Baku was one of the world’s fast growing cities, and that the Heydar Aliyev Center, where the Forum is being held, is an obvious proof of this. Saying “Tolerance is not a new idea for us, it is part of our culture and life”, Leyla Aliyeva talked of the significance of addressing environmental issues.

Calling creation of an ecological civilization the mankind’s dream, Leyla Aliyeva said unless people change their view of the environment, in future ecological disasters will become a real peril for the existence of the mankind. According to her, 14 million trees have been planted in the country within the IDEA campaign, and partnership relations have been established with a number of world environmental companies. A number of initiatives aimed at protection of endangered animal species have been supported and competitions devoted to environmental topics held in 90 countries with participation of 1400 children. Saying, during the discussions at the Forum, that new terms such as ecological culture, ecological journalism, ecological safety, eco-business and other notions have emerged, Leyla Aliyeva  expressed confidence that significant achievements may be reached by joint efforts.