Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

Executive summary The socioeconomic situation in the territories of the countries bordering the Caspian Sea was ana- lysed. Direct drivers, such as population growth, tourism, fisheries, agriculture and the mining in- dustry, as well as the indirect drivers of climate change and sea level fluctuations were discussed in the report. Depending on the indicator cho- sen, the report’s findings suggest that the driv- ers putting the most pressure on the state of the Caspian Sea’s environment are urbanization, oil and gas activities, illegal fishing and agricultural activities. These drivers have been causing major chang- es in the state of the Caspian Sea’s biological resources for the past 10 years. Recent surveys show that anthropogenic influences are nega- tively impacting the region’s biological diversity, with some species of vegetation and fauna on the verge of extinction and listed as strictly protected (Goodman and Dmitrieva 2016; LUKOIL, 2015). Air pollution Caspian littoral states all note that transport and industrial emissions are the main sources of air pollution, with industrial areas and urban cen- tres as the main concern in terms of air quality. Due to the lack of a unified reporting system, it is difficult to determine the extent of air pollution and overall air quality in the Caspian region. In general, the air quality of large cities along Caspian Sea’s coast is critical, though it has been improving over the last few years. Like other re- gions, environmental pollution in the Caspian Sea is having a negative impact on both the litto- ral states and individuals. Population growth and waste Urbanization in the region is increasing the pres- sure on the Caspian coast’s environment. The most significant impacts of population growth are loss or degradation of cropland and the gen- eration of domestic waste and sewage. In the western part of the Caspian Sea, such issues are deteriorating the quality of seawater.

Depending on the area of the Caspian Sea, the quality of seawater ranges from polluted, as is the case in the open areas along the Russian coast, to clean, as seen at the Karazhanbas oilfield in the Kazakh part of the sea (Russian Federation, State Oceanographic Institute 2012–2016). Although waste generation has decreased in some countries, it has grown in others due to higher levels of consumption and increased ur- banization as more people move to cities. The most common means of disposal for solid waste remains landfill sites, where there are limited op- portunities to process valuable secondary mate- rials. Only a small proportion of the waste gener- ated in the Caspian region is made harmless and reused. For example, in the Russian Federation, around 5 per cent of total waste is recycled, while only 2.6 per cent of the waste is reused (Russian Federation 2017; Russian Federation 2018; Rus- sian Federation 2003). The generation of both industrial and municipal waste is associated with overall economic devel- opment and therefore varies within the region. The Caspian littoral states have introduced ur- gent measures to solve the waste accumulation issue, such as building waste incineration plants to transform household waste into energy (as in Azerbaijan, where a solid household waste in- cineration plant with fourth generation technol- ogy was commissioned in 2014). In the Russian Federation, measures include constructing waste sorting complexes, improving waste disposal landfill sites, establishing waste transfer stations in Astrakhan Oblast, the Republic of Dagestan and the Republic of Kalmykia (Russian Feder- ation 2017; Russian Federation 2018; Russian Federation 2003), and cleaning oil-contaminated territories (Orujova 2012; Kazakhstan, Ministry of Energy 2018). Oil and gas industry The oil and gas industry continues to be one of the main drivers of economic development in the region’s countries and is putting significant pressure on the Caspian Sea’s environment. One

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