Vital Caspian Graphics 2

Petrozavodsk

LADOGA LAKE

ONEGA LAKE

Contents

Saint Petersburg

Syktyvkar

Kotlas

VOLGA-BALTIC CANAL

Berezmki

Vologda

Rybinsk

Kudymkar

a

m

a

K

Kirov

V

Iaroslavl

V

o

o l

g

Perm

a

Tver

l g

Nijni-Taghil

a

Ivanovo

MOSCOW-VOLGA CANAL

Ijevsk

Ioshkar-Ola

a

Nijni-Novgorod

Yekaterinburg

Moscow

m

Smolensk

a

K

V

o

l g

a

Kazan

Riazan

Tula

Cheliabinsk

Ufa

a

Briansk

RUSSIA

l g

Saransk

o

V

Ulianovsk

Orel

Penza

Magnitogorsk

Samara

Syzran

Tambov

Kursk

Voronezh

D o n

Orenburg

Bielgorod

Saratov

Kharkyv

Orsk

Aktobe

D

n

o

a

VOLGA-DON CANAL

g

o l

U

KAZAKHSTAN

r a l

UKRAINE

V

Volgograd

Donetsk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Mariupol

Rostov

A sea of opportunities, aspirations and challenges

10

V

o l

g

D

n

o

a

a

b

AZOV SEA

m

E

Aralsk

Atyrau

Elista

Astrakhan

Fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea

20

Krasnodar

Novorossiisk

Stavropol

ARAL SEA

Big projects, big consequences

30

Karalkapakia

BLACK SEA

Groznyi Vladikavkaz

k

e

Sukhumi

Aktau

r

e

UZBEKISTAN

T

Makhachkala

Poti

Tskhinvali

The marks of human activity

36

Nukus

Daghestan

GEORGIA

Batumi

Derbent

Tbilisi

Dashoguz

CASPIAN SEA

Trabzon

K

u r

Urgench

a

KARA BOGAZ GOL

ARMENIA

Sumgait

Changing population profile

52

Yerevan

AZERBAIJAN

Erzurum

K

u r

TURKEY

a

Turkmenbashi

Baku

Nakhichevan NAKHICHEVAN (AZER.)

TURKMENISTAN

Khazar

Balkanabat

KARA-KUM CANAL

s

a k

r

A

Ecosystems paying the price

57

Gyzyl Arbad

Tabriz

Ashgabad

Mardin

A

t

r r

e

k

Gasan Kuli

SYRIA

Rasht

d

Bender

u

Ramsar

R

Environment and security – a fragile balance

67

Mossul

Babol

i d

Gorgan

a f

S

Qazvin

Sari

Mashad

Kirkuk

Topography, metres

Tehran

IRAQ

Below sea level

0 200 500 1,000 3,000 4,000 2,000

IRAN

Baghdad

Ispahan

Ahvaz

0

200

400

600

800 km

MAP BY IEVA RUCEVSKA AND PHILIPPE REKACEWICZ - SEPTEMBER 2005

The Caspian Sea runs north and south, extending over 1 200 kilometres, with an average width of 320 kilometres, with 7 000 km coastline. It covers approximately 400 000 square kilometres (an area slightly larger than Germany). The population of the region is about 14 million, distributed over the coastal provinces of five countries: 6.5 million in Iran, 3.9 million in Russia, 2.2 million in Azerbaijan, 0.8 million in Kazakhstan and 0.4 million in Turkmenistan.