Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

9. Participation and outreach NGOs engage in various environmental activi- ties in the Caspian littoral states. These activities include disseminating information on the state of the environment, contributing to the devel- opment of strategic environmental assessments, assessing the possible impact of investment proj- ects on the environment and implementing vari- ous international environmental projects.

mental authorities, statistical agencies and open data portals. Currently, 44 out of the 49 indi- cators, which offer a practical and cost-effective way to assess the state of the environment, are available on the State Statistical Committee’s website. The Islamic Republic of Iran is implementing a large number of environmental protection pro- grammes in close cooperation with NGOs, in- cluding the Without Plastic campaign, the Caspi- an Seal programme and the Protecting Migratory Birds from Illegal Hunting programme (National Contribution). Kazakhstan has ratified the Aarhus Convention. Pursuant to the provisions of the Environmental Code of the Republic Kazakhstan, the state au- thorities are obliged to disseminate environmen- tal information via the media, including infor- mation relating to the state of the environment, as well as drafts of regulatory acts and interna- tional agreements on environmental protection. Aarhus Centres operate in Aktau and Atyrau, where they cooperate with NGOs, including the Kazakhstan NGO EcoForum. National Reports on the State of the Environment are published annually in Kazakhstan, and the texts are pub- lished on the Ministry of Energy website (Repub- lic of Kazakhstan 2014-2016). A number of NGOs engaged in a variety of en- vironmental activities are active in the Caspian regions of the Russian Federation. Long-es- tablished branches of national ecological (geo- graphical, ornithological and nature protection) associations and societies, local student organi- zations and environmentally focused educational institutions for children operate here. Local universities and nature reserves carry out important educational work. The following environmental NGOs are active in Astrakhan Oblast: • Astrakhan branch of the Russian Bird Con- servation Union

Azerbaijan acceded to the Convention on Ac- cess to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in En- vironmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) on 23 March 2000 and, with the assistance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has set up a Public Environ- mental Information Centre (Aarhus Centre) in Baku to implement its provisions. The centre’s main objectives are to promote the use of envi- ronmental information, public participation in decision-making, public transparency on en- vironmental matters and good governance. Its facilities can be used by NGOs, government au- thorities, representatives of international organi- zations and anyone interested in environmental issues. In 2010, the Public Environmental Council was established under the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. The Council’s members are NGOs and community leaders and its main ob- jectives are to cooperate with NGOs and to im- plement the Aarhus Convention provisions as effectively as possible. Since the seventh Environment for Europe Min- isterial Conference (2011) in Astana, which took the decision to establish the Shared Environmen- tal Information System (SEIS), and the subse- quent Batumi Conference in 2016, Azerbaijan has made significant progress in setting up and rolling out SEIS. Progress has also been made in ensuring that the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) environmental indicators are accessible. The indicators are increasingly being published on the websites of national environ-

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