Vital Caspian Graphics 2

7

Environment and security – a fragile balance

Thousands of tonnes per year Total sturgeon catch in the Caspian

Total trade in sturgeon caviar

35

200 Tonnes of caviar allowed from CITES quotas Azerbaijan Iran

30

Russia Total Kazakhstan

25

150

20

No agreement on quotas between the parties

15

10

100

A s a source of potential wealth the environment with its natural resources can easily fuel tensions between neighbours and endanger the security of people living in the region. Threats may stem directly from environmental impacts on health and well- being, but also from conflicts triggered by the associated pressures. To further complicate matters, the region’s political order has recently been reshuffled and there remains an unresolved dispute about territorial claims to the sea basin and the natural resources that may be found there.

5

N.B.: Turkmenistan is not included

1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 0 Source: Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis for the Caspian Sea, Caspian Environment Programme, 2002. Updated in 2010 with data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 2007

50

0

2001

2005

2010

Source: CITES online database, accessed in September 2010.

Overview of legal international caviar trade, 1998-2006

All European Union members states

Tonnes

500

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

Iran

In areas where the economic interests vested in natural and mineral resources are as strong as around the Caspian Sea, environmental protection tends to be a low priority. But some of the natural resources such as fish, which form the basis for human survival and economic activities in the region, depend on an intact environment. The exploitation of other natural resources is particularly profitable, because little account is made for possible negative side-effects. The region’s valuable natural resources – some non- renewable such as oil and gas, others renewable such as fish – are an important factor in relations between states and the various communities living around the Caspian sea. In particular they may create international tension, as for instance with the ongoing discussions about sustainable exploitation of fish resources.

400

United States

300

Germany

France

200

Switzerland

Russia

Japan

Kazakhstan

Romania

100

Azerbaijan

France

China

Italy

0

Sources: Engler, M & Knapp, A., Briefing On the Evolution of the Caviar Trade and Range State Implementation of Resolution Conf. 12.7 (Rev. Cop 14). A TRAFFIC Europe Report for the European Commission, 2008.

66

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