Other actors and initiatives
Major
intergovernmental agreements and actors
Caspian
Sea Environment Programme
The Caspian Environment Program (CEP) was launched in April 1995
as a regional seas program by the five littoral states (Azerbaijan,
Iran, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Turkmenistan) in co-operation
with the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP. The program supports measures
to improve environmental quality and to efficiently manage the bioresources
of the Caspian Sea. Programme
components will focus on developing national policies to reduce
the pollution load of the Caspian Basin by clearly defining priorities
and preparing investment projects, establishing a system of monitoring
regional pollution with data banks, developing a strategy for a
sustainable sturgeon yield, improving the management of coastal
zone and wetland areas, protecting marine mammals, and strengthening
institutional capacity at the local, national, and regional levels.
See
information
on the Caspian Sea and the programme (and other projects), general
information on the Caspian
Sea as well as on governance, national
focal points, and stakeholders.
UN
Economic Commission for Europe, ECE
The Environment and Human Settlements Division is part of the secretariat
of the UN ECE. It brings together economists, scientists, urban
planners and other experts, and organizes the regular intergovernmental
meetings of the Committee on Environmental Policy, the Executive
Body for the Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, the Meeting of the
Parties to the Convention
on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International
Lakes and the Committee on Human Settlements. At these meetings,
government representatives from Europe, North America, Central Asia
and Israel address environmental and human settlements issues, such
as environmental impact assessment, air and water pollution, urban
renewal or land registration.
Financial
institutions
European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
EBRD
The bank finances projects in three country groups (Central Europe;
Russia and Central Asia; Southern and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus)
and three sectors:
Financial Institutions; Infrastructure; and Industry and Commerce.
The infrastructure group of projects contains four issues: Municipal
and environmental infrastructure; Transport;
Power
and energy utilities; and Energy
efficiency. The EBRD is directed by its Agreement to "promote
in the full range of its activities environmentally
sound and sustainable development", thereby being the first
international financial institution to have been given such a proactive
environmental mandate by its founders.
European
Investment Bank,
EIB
The European Union's financing and long-term lending institution.
The EIB is mandated to conduct operations in: the Central and Eastern
European Countries and certain Mediterranean Countries which have
applied for membership of the EU; the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
Countries; the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), South
Africa and the OCT; Asia and Latin America; the Western Balkans.
Within the European Union, projects considered for EIB financing
must contribute to a number of set objectives, including the preservation
of the natural and urban environment.
Outside the Union, the Bank participates in implementing the Union's
development aid and cooperation policies through long-term loans
from own resources or subordinated loans and risk capital from EU
or Member States' budgetary funds.
Action
programmes, strategies and research
Caspian
Regional Thematic Centre (CRTC): Biodiversity
Caspian Regional
Thematic Centres were developed within existing institutions
having the best available regional expertise in selected thematic
areas. They are responsible for: development of a work plan and
implementation of activities in their respective thematic area,
regional coordination within area of competency, relevant regional
recommendation development, guidance and strategy within area of
competency, assistance in development of the TDA and PIP, and assistance
in development of the National Caspian Action Plans (NCAP) and the
Strategic Action Programme (SAP). One of the CRTCs work with biodiversity
issues.See for example the Caspian
Biodiversity Network.
CASPAS
The principal objectives of the CASPAS programme, endorsed by the
Hydrometeorological Departments of all countries of the region,
are:
-
To set up a regional system for collection and exchange of information
on air and water conditions and on environmental pollution and other
environmental parameters in the Caspian Region;
-
To carry out a comprehensive investigation of changes in the level
of the Caspian Sea, as well as of environmental pollution in the region,
and to assess and forecast the impact of those two factors on the
regions environment.
Tacis
Regional Seas Programme
The
Tacis Regional Seas Programme supports the Black Sea Environment Programme,
the Caspian Sea Environment Programme and the Danube River Basin
Programme. Caspian Sea partner organisation include Ministries of Environment
in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and their nominated Regional
Caspian Advisory Groups. The Tacis Caspian Sea Environment Programme has
been developed in close cooperation with the World Bank. It is planned
to support the bio-resources network, and catalyse urgent investment into
the region by the World Bank, other international financial institutions
and donors. Given the devastating oil pollution (particularly in Azerbaijan,
and flooded areas) and the threat of sturgeon becoming extinct, action
is all the more important and concomitant with the need to ensure the
sustainable development of Caspian Sea fossil fuel resource production
and enhance TRACECA. Tacis will provide specific logistical, management
and marketing support to set up four Regional thematic advisory groups,
one centred in each littoral country. The GEF is financing the participation
of the group in Iran, and the PCU. Focal areas are expected to cover coping
with the fluctuating sea level, biodiversity, pollution monitoring, and
sustainable sturgeon/fisheries management.
State
of the regional environment
National
Reports on the State of the Caspian Environment
These reports are available and can be downloaded in zipped or .doc
form for all Caspian countries:
Azerbaijan,
oil, and sustainable development in Azerbaijan
Article about "ecocide of the Caspian Sea" by scientists at
College of Geosciences, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University.
The
Caspian
Web site compiled by the University of Washington, Evan School of Public
Affairs. Contains articles on, e.g., "Challenges of environmental
protection" and "Sustainability issues".
Caspian
Sea Region: Environmental Issues
General information on the Caspian Sea environment, compiled by the US
Energy Information Administration.
GEO
2000 State of the Environment: Europe and Central Asia
Global Enviroment
Outlook 2000. GEO is:
- a global
environmental assessment process, the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral
and participatory. It incorporates regional views and perceptions, and
builds consensus on priority issues and actions through dialogue among
policy-makers and scientists at regional and global levels.
- GEO outputs,
in printed and electronic formats, including the GEO Report series.
This series makes periodic reviews of the state of the world's environment,
and provides guidance for decision-making processes such as the formulation
of environmental policies, action planning and resource allocation.
Other outputs include technical reports, a
web site and a publication for young people.
GEF
Projects in the region
Projects
under implementation
UNEP
- GEF - International waters:
Implementation
of Shared Water Management in full Strategic Action Programmes (SAP)
for the Caspian Sea
This project represents the GEF contribution to the Caspian Environment
Programme (CEP), a regional programme funded by the five riparian
countries, GEF,UNEP, and others. The goals of this GEF project are
the development of a regional coordination mechanism, completion
of a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis of priority water-related
environmental issues, formulation of a Strategic Action Programme
and National Action Plans for sustaining the Caspian and its associated
natural resources.
UNDP/UNEP/World
Bank - GEF - International waters:
Addressing
Transboundary Environmental Issues in the Caspian Environment Programme
The project would identify priority transboundary issues and country-specific
actions to address those issues as part of the Caspian Environment
Programme (CEP). The CEP is a regional program funded by riparian
countries, GEF, UNEP, The World Bank, and other donors and the project
represents a joint, collaborative effort among the three implementing
agencies and the participating countries. The overall goal of the
CEP is environmentally sustainable development and management of
the Caspian environment, including living resources and water quality.
The ultimate goals of the proposed initiative are: (a) the development
of a regional coordination mechanism through institutional framework,
capacity building, public awareness, stakeholder involvement; (b)
completion of a Transboundary Diagnosis Analysis (TDA) of priority
transboundary water-related environmental issues to guide prioritization
for actions and investments; (c) formulation and endorsement of
a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) and National Action Plans as
the basis for prioritizing actions to be taken.
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Other
actors, initiatives and resources
