Ecology

CONVENTION ON CASPIAN PRESERVATION A MUST

A project, "Internationalization of environmental problems under the development of Caspian oil fields", which got under implementation in late 1999 with financial backing from the Soros Foundation "Research Boost Scheme" program, has drawn to a close. The project executive, Dr. in Chemistry, fellow of the International Academy for Steady Development Islam Mustafayev quotes some sources (US State Department, Commercial Department, the Center for Strategic and International Researches in Baku) as estimating oil reserves in the Caspian shelf at around 20 billion tons. Only Azerbaijan has contracted with foreign oil companies to produce in excess of 700 million tons of crude from its Caspian shelf, at a time when over 10 international oil companies are operating in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian, which is believed to trap up to 12 billion tons of oil and 23 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Intensive upstream developments are currently underway in the Kazakh and Russian sectors of the Sea, with Iran conducting seismic prospecting.

Cross-border air contamination arising from production, refining and transportation of hydrocarbons in the Caspian needs an international control, Mr. Mustafayev said. It is important to devise international ecological regulatory acts on joint action of the Caspian coastal states to protect the Caspian environment, to develop a common system of standards for concentration of harmful substances, etc. To resolve these issues the littoral countries should develop and sign a common convention on the conservation of the Caspian. All the concerns could be easily settled if the status of the Caspian were defined, he said.

FLOOD DAMAGE OVER $10BN

The rising Caspian Sea level has caused $12 billion of damage to the agriculture, industry, infrastructure and economy of Azerbaijan since 1977, chairperson of the permanent parliamentary commission on natural resources, energy and ecology Asya Manafova told an international science conference, "Emergency problems and human life safety". According to her, sustaining substantial damage are flooded fisheries, as their revival needs a good deal of money and time.

The conference, held in Baku on September 17-18, focused on legal framework to resolve natural and industrial emergencies, their geological aspects, avoidance of accidents when carrying dangerous substances, potential outcomes of nuclear warfare, risk management under emergencies, and readiness of the population and state services for powerful quakes.

However, according to the chairman of the international scientific and research center "InterGeo-Tetis" Elchin Khalilov, no quakes are anticipated in Azerbaijan. The Baku area has experienced many aftershocks following the November 25 earthquake, therefore 2002 is going to be seismically less active, he said. The conference was joined by Azeri, Turkish, Kazakh representatives and UNDP spokesmen.