OREANDA-NEWS. September 09, 2009. The regional meeting focused on drafting the important international document – the Protocol for the Protection of the Caspian Sea against Pollution from land-based sources and land-based activities. This is the fourth regional government-designated experts meeting aimed at drafting the relevant document to the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea. The leading environmental specialists, international experts and consultants from Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and the representatives of public and international organisations took part in the two-day part organized by the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan, UNEP, the Tehran Convention Secretariat ad interim in collaboration with UNDP and EU-TACIS CASPECO project.

As is known, the Framework (Tehran) Convention, which entered into force in 2003, is the first and only multilateral treaty document in the Caspian Sea region that identifies the trends in the strategy for partnership among the littoral states in the vital field – environmental safety. To concert efforts of international community to preserve the world’s largest inland body of water with its unique natural and marine environment, to ensure sustainable development of the coastal areas for future generations are the major aims of the provisions of the Convention, which laid the foundation for implementation of the national and regional environmental programmes and action plans in the countries of the Caspian Sea Basin.

Intensive development of the Caspian Sea coast, high oil and gas production rates, extension of pipeline and transport infrastructure – the essential conditions of economic development of the region had entailed the need to develop the first basic document to the Convention – the Protocol for the Protection of the Caspian Sea against Pollution. Fritz Schlingemann, Director of the Tehran Convention Secretariat ad interim said that conducting the four meetings to adjust the articles of the Protocol in Ashgabat testified to Turkmenistan’s high international prestige earned by the national policy prioritizing environmental wellbeing of the region and the planet at large. That was vividly illustrated by successful implementation and compliance of the project on creation of Avaza national tourism zone with the environmental requirements.

During the first meetings the draft Protocol covering the issues that provided for concerting efforts to monitor the anthropogenic impact on the marine environment of the unique natural water body through international cooperation as well.

The aim of this close-up meeting was to approve the final Protocol and five annexes that identified the economic activities under control and the pollutant source categories, the ways to control emissions of these substances and atmospheric transport of pollutants, development of the principal environmental quality standards, adoption of the general guidelines, application of the advanced environmentally friendly technologies and best environmental practices. The ceremony of signing the Protocol for the Protection of the Caspian Sea against Pollution from land-based sources and land-based activities would take place at the 3rd Conference of the Parties to the Convention in Astana in 2010.

The close-up environmental meeting illustrated the concern of Turkmenistan and other countries that the Caspian Sea remained the natural pearl of the region, the sea of cohesion and cooperation.