New treaty on protecting the Caspian Sea environment to be launched in Baku

Under the Convention, which entered into force last August, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan will collaborate on reversing an environmental crisis brought about by habitat destruction, industrial pollution and the over-exploitation of fish and other marine life.

The regional partnership established by this Convention will assist in the sustainable management of the Caspian's economically important natural and nature-based resources.

The Baku conference will advance work on four protocols to the Convention that will set out specific, detailed obligations in the fields of biodiversity conservation, environmental impact assessment, oil pollution incidents and pollution from land-based sources.

The aim is to advance the texts sufficiently to make it possible to adopt them at the next conference in 2008, to be held in Iran. The meeting will also consider a proposal by Iran to launch work on a fisheries protocol and adopt a one-year work programme.

The final day (Friday) will feature a ministerial segment with ministers or deputy ministers representing each of the five countries. APA