Документы

Public Participation is stimulated in key international instruments such as the 1998 Aarhus Convention (Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Matters), signed and ratified by many of the Caspian Sea countries, and builds on the requirements of the Commission on Sustainable Development to promote the implementation of Agenda 21 and the follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development.  Public participation is required within the Aarhus Convention and is in line with the principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Strategy for Civil Society Engagement in the Protection of the Caspian Sea Marine Environment was presented at the COP3 in Aktau, Kazakhstan, 10–12 August 2011. It contains an analysis and a number of recommendations to improve access to information and participation in decision-making and action towards the implementation of the Tehran Convention and its Protocols at the local, national and regional levels.

We are pleased to announce the publication of the Proceedings of the Scientific Conference on the Climate Change in the Caspian Sea region. This collection includes all the abstracts selected by the Organizing Committee of the Conference. In addition, in the Proceedings you will find introductory words by key speakers of each section and welcome addresses from the guests of the Conference.

Scientific Conference on 27 and 28 October 2021 brought well over 80 leading scientists from the countries bordering the Caspian Sea together, to take stock and give a boost to research in the region underpinning the climate change policies and actions of Azerbaijan, IR Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and Turkmenistan.

The article examines recent Caspian Sea level change by using both satellite radar altimetry and satellite gravity data. The altimetry record for 2002–2015 shows a declining level at a rate that is approximately 20 times greater than the rate of global sea level rise. Seasonal fluctuations are also much larger than in the world oceans. With a clearly defined geographic region and dominant signal magnitude, variations in the sea level and associated mass changes provide an excellent way to compare various approaches for processing satellite gravity data. 

In 2001 the initial Caspian Regional Stakeholder Analysis was commissioned with the objective of identifying major stakeholder groups, their interests and impact on the Caspian environment. Also identification of potential conflicts between stakeholder groups was a key task of the initial study. In summer 2004 this follow-up study was conducted in order to observe trends in stakeholder interests, perceptions and concerns as they pertain to activities of the Caspian Environment Programme.

Average precipitation and evaporation in the Caspian Sea in 2000-2015.

Created by Manana Kurtabadze.

Map of Tourism provided by Manana Kurtrubadze for the SOE (2018).

This study is an attempt to develop an integrated methodology to predict the impact of the Caspian Sea on flooding using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and hydrodynamic modeling. A rise in the sea level might lead to major flooding events, and have a severe impact on the spatial development of cities and regions. The feasibility of simulating a flood event along a drain channel is evaluated near residential development areas along the Chapakroud drain.

The study shows that at these elevations environmental and social problems arise with regards to the drain. The results also indicate that GIS is an effective tool for floodplain visualization and analysis. It should be noted that the mixture of salt and soft water, as a result of rising sea water level, is a problem that was not investigated in this study and should be examined in the future.