Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

Preface The present report on the State of the Environ- ment of the Caspian Sea was developed in accor- dance with the requirements of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine En- vironment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran Conven- tion, 2003) and is one of the regional environmen- tal cooperation mechanisms to assess the state of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea, in particular, pollution and its impact, based on the reports provided by the Contracting Parties and any competent international organization. One important priority of the Tehran Conven- tion, determined by its Programme of Work for 2009–2010, which was adopted by the Caspian littoral states at the second Meeting of the Con- ference of the Parties to the Tehran Convention (2008, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran), is the development of the State of the Environment of the Caspian Sea Report. The first State of the Environment of the Caspian Sea Report aimed to highlight the main trends in the Caspian Sea’s marine and coastal environment and was developed using the materials and doc-

uments of the Caspian Environment Programme (CEP). This first report provided the basis for the development of the second State of the Environ- ment of the Caspian Sea Report, in line with the requirements of the Convention and its protocols. The third Meeting of the Conference of the Par- ties to the Tehran Convention, which took place in 2011, in Aktau, Republic of Kazakhstan, wel- comed the presentation of the first State of the Environment of the Caspian Sea Report as the re- view document on activities implemented under the CEP and Tehran Convention. In addition, it was decided that the next report would be issued in four years and would include information and basic indicators on the state of the environment of the Caspian Sea. The development of the second State of the Envi- ronment of the Caspian Sea Report was carried out in accordance with the decision of the fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Tehran Convention, which stressed the impor- tance of the regular preparation of reports on the State of the Environment of the Caspian Sea and

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