1. JBIC AND IRANIAN OIL COMPANY
ARE NOT GOING TO REALISE THEIR PLOT BAKU, 26 MARCH, AZER-PRESS. 'Such things do happen from time to time, but nothing
indicates that any practical work will be carried out in the Azeri sector of the Caspian
Sea,' Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev said by way of a comment on the recently signed $3
bn agreement between Naftien intertrade Co (NICO) of the National Oil Company of Iran and
the Japanese Bank of International Co-operation, to allocate the preliminary funds towards
developing the oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan. JBIC seeks investment opportunities,
which is normal, Minister Guliyev says, but when it comes to realising specific
agreements, the companies involved may not go on without taking into account the concerned
parties' opinions. 'And I mean to say that they are going to face the hard opposition of
the Azeri Government,' Vilayat Guliyev pointed out; he went further to emphasise that it
was not possible to realise the plot. Vilayat Guliyev said that the deputy foreign
ministers of the littoral countries were going to have their meeting in Baku within the
first ten days of April. He then answered reporters' questions about the prospects of
GUUAM, saying that it would be best to hold the summit of the GUUAM presidents in May,
because the Azeri president's April timetable is packed. As Moldova's future membership in
GUUAM, Vilayat Guliyev reminded the press that after the Communists had won in Moldova's
parliamentary ballot, there were frequent calls in that country for joining the alliance
of Russia and Byelorussia. If that happens, Moldova may leave GUUAM, according to Minister
Guliyev.
I.R. IRAN
1. NOROUZ IN IRI Norouz, which means "NEW DAY", is the traditional new year event for
Iranians for several thousands of years. It starts on 21 March, which is the first day of
spring, & is when the nature wakes up from its winter sleep. More than 2 million
Iranians spend the 2 weeklong holiday on the resorts of the southern coast of Caspian Sea
& enjoy the fresh air & beautiful scenery.
The vacationers bring with them a great bulk of garbage & leave the area & it's
inhabitant with the problem of proper disposing. Solid waste is becoming the number one
environmental issue of this environmentally fragile area, specially when the locals think
of long summer days, when almost 3 million visitors come back to stay for 90 days.
2. ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
According to Dr. M. Ebtekar, the director of Department of Environment of Iran, the
polluting industrial installations will be fined, starting the new Iranian year (21
March). The enforcement procedure of the law has been developed & approved by the
Cabinet last year, she added.
The law, she explained, is going to be enforced in 2 different manners,
a) Encouragement of industries to develop an environmental management system & match
their systems to fit the existing standards. Special tax reduction measures will be
considered for the expenses of such acts.
b) Considering cash fine for the polluting units, according to the kind & rate of the
pollution problems they create.
The revenue from the fines will be used for environmental activities. Dr. Ebtekar further
explained that enforcement of this law will not result in setting down the polluting
industries, but to use correction measures & encouraging the installation of sewage
& air treatment facilities. To date, 30 industrial units have achieved EMS (ISO 14000)
certificate, which in comparison to the number of industries in the country, is
insignificant, she added & hope for the acceleration of adoption of EMS by the
industrial sector of the country.
3. ENVIRONMENTAL PATROLLING AND MONITORING UNIT IN GILAN
The management of the Department of Environment office of Gilan province has decided to
create an "Environmental patrolling & monitoring unit" with the help of the
local green NGOs. The Unit will provide a centre to receive news, information &
reports about violation & threats to the environment. An office & a fulltime
telephone line will be available in central district soon to test the efficiency of such
system.
A consortium of Sweden's GVA Consultants and the local Iran Marine Industrial Company
(Sadra) are to build a semi-submersible drilling rig for oil and gas exploration in the
Caspian Sea in a contract valued at $226 million. The rig was tendered in late 2000, with
the group competing against bidders from Singapore and Russia (MEED 20:10:00).
International and local tenders for equipment supplies, including drilling equipment, will
be issued in the next six months, a GVA official in Gothenberg said on 13 March. Some 50
per cent of machinery will be locally supplied.
GVA has a stake of nearly 5 per cent, worth about $10 million, in the consortium, with
Sadra, a subsidiary of the Industrial Development & Renovation Organization (IDRO),
holding the balance. The rig will be manufactured at Sadra's facility near the port of
Neka built in the 1990s with the help of Finland's Rauma Repola.
GVA is to act as consortium leader with responsibility for design and project management.
The rig, to be built over 32 months, will be able to operate at depths of up to 1,000
meters. Financing is "through the normal NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company)
methods", says GVA.
The rig, owned by Sadra, is to be leased to local and foreign firms exploring in the
Caspian. This is expected to be in Iranian waters, where the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and
the UK's Lasmo (part of Italy's Eni as of 2001) are carrying out exploration work in
several blocks (MEED 21:7:00).
RICE PLANTATION: The activity of rice plantation has started in more than 450,000 ha of
southern Caspian lowlands. The annual production of rice in this area is about 1,400,000
MT of high quality. This activity creates nearly 15,000,000 labor/day jobs, of which the
share of the women is more than %50. Flooded rice fields provide good winter habitat for
many species of
migratory birds. The extremely endangered western flocks of Siberian cranes spend the
winter in this area.
TURKMENISTAN
1. EARTH DAY WORKSHOP IN
TURKMENBASHY 26 children and 13 teachers of biology, geography and nature studies from 13
schools of the coastal city of Turkmenbashy and 4 children and 2 teachers from 2 schools
of adjacent town of Djanga as well as a teacher of biology and 3 students from
Turkmen-Turkish high school participated in an Environmental Workshop for high school
students and teachers.
This workshop was organized by CEP Public Participation
Advisor with the assistance of US Peace Corps Volunteers, Board of Education of the City,
the Mayor office and Hazar State Nature Reserve.
The workshop had several sessions and started with
environmental education session where participants learned about their environment-flora
and fauna of the Caspian see and its coast. In the following sessions about nature
conservation and environment and human health the participants learned about the necessity
of nature conservation and saw and illustration of the
relationship between the environment and human health.
After the break school students and their teachers were
divided into 5 groups to identify priority
environmental problems in their communities and ways of solving such problems. The
workshop concluded with the children's presentation of their findings and a trip to the
Hazar Nature museum.
For more information please contact: PPA Turkmenistan
2. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE GROUNDWATER QUALITY WORKSHOP
On April 23 CRTC for Human Sustainable Development and Health started its first regional
workshop. This workshop was organized in conjunction with the World Health Organization
within the framework of the Caspian Environment Programme.
Representatives of scientific institutions from Caspian
littoral states took part in this workshop as well as representatives of the Ministry of
Health and Medical Industry, Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan and CRTC
Combating Desertification its series in Ashgabat
For more information please contact: PPA Turkmenistan
RUSSIA
1. February 8, 2001
The Governor of the Astrakhan region, Anatoly Guzhvin, greeted schoolchildren and students
- winners of the contest "My Letter to the Governor". The objective of the
contest announced by the Astrakhan regional NGO Children and Youth Association was to
raise political activities of young people and reveal issues important to them.
Environmental situation proved to be among the most important in the set of problems
mentioned in the letters. Young people wrote of their love for the native land, its
natural wealth and the necessity to protect natural resources. This comes only feasible
under deep concern of governmental structures, with development of explicit program in
this field. The young people mentioned that protection and rehabilitation of regional
natural resources should start with cultivating responsibilities for the country we live
in.
2. IUCN's 1st Meeting of Working
Group on Sturgeon Conservationchaired by Dr. Mohammad Pourkazemi, Director
of International Sturgeon Research Institute (I.R.Iran), was held on 9-11 February 2001,
in Moscow. Experts from different countries discussed status of sturgeon populations,
criteria for inclusion of endangered species in the Red List, state of the art in species
identification using genetic methods, current strains in caviar sales and marketing and
other problems.
3. Dr. Labon of CRTC-Management
of Bioresources made a presentation based on the analysis of sturgeon catches for the
period 1932-2000. Sturgeon suffered a first blow when the Volgograd dam was constructed in
1960 - thus the access of mature fish to the natural spawning grounds was closed. The
second blow to sturgeons was in early 60-s when fishing was transferred from the sea to
the mouth of rivers and spawners were more easily accessible to fishermen. Initially it
has resulted in an increase in catch and caviar production. However, since 1982 a rapid
decline in sturgeon catch is observed. The total Caspian sturgeon catch peaked in 1977 at
nearly 30,000 tons and declined to 11,000 tons in 1992. The total decline was recorded for
the ex-Soviet Union while the catch of Iran remained stable for a few more years. A third
blow was dealt the resources with the collapse of the USSR. There is a dramatic decline in
officially recorded catch to a level of appr. 2,000 tons in the year 2000 due to poaching.
Introduction of a management system has become urgent and the respective Draft Agreement
has been prepared by CRTC-MB.
4. 28 March 2001
Caspian Environmental Group (CEG) held a meeting with participation of Regional
Administration officers, NGOs, representatives of science, educational system and business
sector, in Astrakhan, Russia. The main goal for this group was formulated as development
of local environmental action plan with special stress to issues related to human health
and environmental protection. To pursue its goals and objectives, CEG will regard relevant
experience gained by European ecologists in their countries. Similar groups are already
established in other Caspian coastal areas. They are oriented on the Caspian Environment
Programme activities providing an example of cooperative approach to cope with numerous
problems currently facing the Caspian region.
5. March 29, 2001
Russian scientists, members of the State Duma and Federation Council, official
representatives of Kalmykia Parliament and other authorities assembled in Astrakhan,
Russia, to review implemented recommendations of Round Table "Legislative Provision
for the Russian Federation Concerns in the zone of the Caspian Basin" (April, 2000).
The Governor of the Astrakhan oblast, Anatoly Guzhvin, stated that recent progress in
resolution of the legal status of the Caspian Sea was greatly attributed to activities of
Russian president Vladimir
Putin and his successful negotiations with the other leaders of the Caspian states. The
participants exchanged opinions on the legal issues, conservation and management of
bioresources, navigation, hydrocarbon production, and ecology. It was stressed that
environmental problems remained unsolved and the situation aggravated. Anatoly Guzhvin
proposed Intergovernmental Regional Center for multipurpose studies and protection of
Caspian natural resources to be established in Astrakhan.
