Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

vention enables the Parties to make conclusions regarding environmental trends and to develop recommendations that could tackle challenges related to the state of the environment. Well-organized, updated and accessible in- formation is essential for properly founded decision-making. Knowledge of the Caspian Sea’s environmental conditions, as well as the causes and effects of changes in these condi- tions is an indispensable prerequisite for com- mon policy development and action to keep the sea clean and preserve its natural resource base for present and future generations. State of the environment reporting is a recognized method for capturing environmental information and making it accessible to policymakers and the general public. In the Caspian region, state of the environment reporting will remain a “work in progress” for some time, since the list of information needed for collective decision-making in areas of com- mon interest has not yet been fully identified. The Tehran Convention and its protocols have determined various tasks that need to be ad- dressed to change this, and the systematic mon-

itoring process underlying future reporting is under development. Common water quality standards and objectives as well as indicators for measuring change and progress in managing such change need to be further developed and agreed upon. An inven- tory of countries’ available capacity must also be developed, to help determine how monitoring and reporting requirements can be met and what type of support is needed. Furthermore, the web- based CEIC, the common database and informa- tion centre established to receive, store and dis- seminate the data and information collected, has only just become operational. The Parties to the Tehran Convention have also agreed to develop a protocol to assist them in developing a founda- tion for collective decision-making by encourag- ing Parties to make commitments related to mon- itoring assessments and information exchange. The second State of the Environment of the Cas- pian Sea Report intends to provide stakeholders with information on the state of the Caspian Sea’s environment in the context of the activities of the Tehran Convention, including the promotion of public awareness.

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