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TKM: Proposed North-South Railway Project - Environmental Assessment Report. Based on its 2007 Presidential Decree, the Government of Turkmenistan (GT) signed a multilateral agreement in 2007, with its neighboring countries to construct new railway tracks to develop the North-South railway corridor for promoting regional trade, cooperation and integration. This is the region’s key route for transporting bulk goods, such as oil and oil products, mineral resources, agricultural products, and textiles.

The significance of the Project is that the proposed north-south railway line will improve Turkmenistan's accessibility to Kazakhstan, the Arabian Gulf countries, the Russian Federation, and South Asia; and increase regional trade. The Project will also contribute to sustainable economic growth in Turkmenistan and development of an integrated, efficient railway system in the region. The Project will reduce the transport cost, cut travel time, and improve accessibility to rural areas of the country. This will generate benefits beyond railway transport cost and time savings.

The presented book represents an attempt to identify comprehensive solution to the problem of the international legal status of the Caspian Sea. The unclear legal situation of the Caspian Sea and the consequent uncertainty of the coastal states about the issue of territorial demarcation, their uncertainty about the extent of their sovereign rights to the exploitation of natural resources and the uncertainty of the neighboring states with regard to shipping in the Caspian prevent continuous economic development of the region, destabilize political situation and result in a lack of security in the Caspian region. These issues are not merely of regional, but of a global importance. This is the way the research is being continued by scientist all over the world.  

“The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia” is the second one in the new series of encyclopedias about the seas of the former Soviet Union published by Springer-Verlag. The first volume – “The Aral Sea Encyclopedia” was published by Springer in 2009. The series will be continued by “The Black Sea Encyclopedia” in 2010.

Toxicity tests are commonly used as a tool to determine the standards of water quality for chemicals and to discover appropriate organisms as bioindicators in toxicological studies, and also could be used as an essential tool for evaluation of the pollutant effects in aquatic ecosystems. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sensitivity of two Caspian fish species, Caspian trout as an endangered species and Caspian Kutum using the static acute toxicity in response to nonylphenol, which is widely discharged into the Caspian Sea environment.

In addition, Caspian trout was approximately 6 times more sensitive than Caspian Kutum. Nonylphenol was reflected to be "highly toxic" to Caspian trout and "moderately toxic" to Caspian Kutum. The results could be considered in preparing plans for conservation and restocking management of Caspian Kutum and the endangered Caspian trout. 

This study is an attempt to develop an integrated methodology to predict the impact of the Caspian Sea on flooding using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and hydrodynamic modeling. A rise in the sea level might lead to major flooding events, and have a severe impact on the spatial development of cities and regions. The feasibility of simulating a flood event along a drain channel is evaluated near residential development areas along the Chapakroud drain.

The study shows that at these elevations environmental and social problems arise with regards to the drain. The results also indicate that GIS is an effective tool for floodplain visualization and analysis. It should be noted that the mixture of salt and soft water, as a result of rising sea water level, is a problem that was not investigated in this study and should be examined in the future. 

Natural seeps and easily exploited surface deposits of crude oil on land have been utilized in the Caspian Sea region earlier than 300 BC. The modern-day picture is a region with oil reserves of global importance, facing a key challenge of the transportation of crude oil to markets. There has been considerable focus on developing oil spill preparedness in the Caspian Sea region. This has involved the governments, regional bodies, the oil industry and a range of other stakeholders and international organizations (notably UNEP, IMO and OSCE). This effort is in addition to the primary focus on preventing spills.

Countries are developing and implementing National Contingency Plans in order to have effective national response systems, which also act as the basis for regional cooperation. 

The Synthesis Report distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group contributions to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most comprehensive assessment of climate change undertaken thus far by the IPCC: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis; Cli- mate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability; andClima- te Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. The SYR also incorpo- rates the findings of two Special Reports on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (2011) and on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (2011). 

This brochure has been produced on behalf of the consortium developing the hydrocarbon deposits beneath the North East Caspian defined under the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement of 1997.

The concession area lies in a region of rich biodiversity recognized as being of international importance for its wildlife, including several species that are classified as endangered. The widely varying conditions in the North East Caspian include extreme seasonal temperature variations, long-term sea level change, short-term sea surges and retreats, high levels of turbidity and sediment movement, ice cover in winter and scouring of the seabed by moving ice.

This dynamic environment presents challenges for those who live and work in the area. It also means that the fauna and flora on land and at sea, are adapted to a significant level of environmental stress from continually changing physical conditions. 

The present synthesis paper will provide an overview of past and present private sector support, it will compare and summarize the five national analysis reports and on the basis of the specifics in each country will make suggestions for next steps to attract further engagement.

Daily extractions of crude oil and gas and transportation of them are the main pollution sources of the Caspian Sea. Many trucks for charring oil from ports along the Caspian Sea are considered as point and nonpoint sources along the seaboard. In addition, many ships, which are navigating in the Sea, are emitting pollution to the Sea. Many cities and industries surround the Caspian Sea. Pollution from these cities and industries enter the Caspian Sea either directly or through rivers. The purpose of this paper is to look at the benefits of environmental management strategies in pollution prevention such as waste minimization and clean technologies. This minimizes the environmental problems due to waste generation and eliminates the cost of treatment and disposal of the waste. The benefits of the environmental management program along the Caspian Sea will ensure the clean water and the better environment of the Sea. 

This report analyzes oil and natural gas in the Caspian region, focusing primarily on the littoral (coastal) countries of the Caspian Sea (Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran). A discussion of Uzbekistan is also included. While not a Caspian coastal state, a considerable amount of Uzbekistan's territory, along with its energy resources, lies in the geological Caspian basins.

The combination of foreign investment and rising energy prices allowed the coastal countries to shift from diverting oil extraction for local use to supplying both regional and world oil markets. The ability of countries to export greater volumes of Caspian crude oil and natural gas will depend on how quickly domestic energy demand rises in those countries, how quickly they can build additional export infrastructure to global markets, and whether expensive projects to develop Caspian resources can attract sufficient investment. 

Presentation by Professor Ramiz M. Mammadov (Institute of Geography, NANA). 

The Institute of Geography of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences have the honour to propose the development of the Atlas of the Caspian Sea (electronic and paper version), which aims to be a product of international scientific collaboration among the five Caspian states. The Atlas should serve the purpose of collecting and maintaining a comprehensive data on the state of the environment of the Caspian Sea and lay the scientific foundation for the environmental monitoring programme and implementation of other provisions of the Convention and its Protocols.

National Convention Action Plan NCAP of the five Parties - Year 2012

The main focus of review: To determine the Status of invasive species with special attention to the most aggressive invader Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Caspian Sea.

Objectives:

1. To assess vectors, pathways of invasive species introduction, their composition and their role in the Caspian ecosystem.

2. To analyze seasonal and interannual dynamics of the Mnemiopsis leidyi population in the all areas of the Caspian Sea; its impacts on the Caspian ecosystem including food recourses (zooplankton) and fish stocks along with other emerging environmental threats such as increased nutrient load from the coast, structural and quantitative changes in phyto-and-zooplankton communities, the appearance of harmful algal bloom (HAB) in the Southern Caspian.

3. To prepare recommendations for follow-up actions on invasive species management: - for the protection and control of the Caspian Sea from any sources of accidental invasive species introductions - for possibility of biological control of invader Mnemiopsis leidyi.

The primary source of this Review has been national reports from every of the five Caspian littoral countries, which included results of national observations of ecosystem state and biodiversity of the Caspian Sea. But due to fragmental data of the national observations on invasive species

Objectives of the project included the organization and performance of the coast-wide awareness campaign in Turkmenbashi and Awaza area devoted to the Caspian Sea Day celebration. The project was prepared and agreed with the program of Celebration with the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan, which supposed to be held in hotel “Dayanch” on the Caspian coast. The events were planned for August 10-11, 2012. However due to force-major reasons, upon arrival of participants of the event to Turkmenbashy city, the organizers were asked to postpone the event. It was decided to perform it in Ashgabat at the premises of the Institute of Deserts. Due to the summer beach time, it was impossible to change tickets and go back to Ashgabat earlier. Thus the Caspian Day event was then again prepared and performed in Ashgabat.