Documents

The present report has been prepared by the international legal consultant – Irina Krasnova, professor of environmental law of the Russian Academy of State Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, doctor of juridical science.

The report is prepared within the framework of the Caspian Environment Programme in accordance with the relevant UNEP/UNDP/TACIS project, the Terms of Reference for the International Consultancy of Legal National Assessments attached in Annex III to the project and the Workplan for CRTC/LREI.

The Third–Sixth National Communication of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC) 

Review of Kazakhstan's activities in fulfillment of obligations under the Tehran Convention

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 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. 

The approach used in this assessment was to collect and analyze information on biodiversity and related areas through documentation searches and interviews with key individuals and organizations concerned with biodiversity, both throughout Kazakhstan and in Washington, D.C. (see Annex C, List of Persons Contacted). An extensive series of field trips was undertaken. 

The Forum is the first event held in the framework of theDay of Caspian Sea celebration .

"Oil and gas offshore fields' development, which is beingcarried out at difficult geological conditions, increases man-caused impacts on environment of the region and creates real emergencies, including oil spills, as hydrocarbon deposits are located in an ecologically sensitive area of ​​the sea. The consequences of possible industrial accident capable of impacting the territories of neighboring countries", said Bapy.

According to his words, for monitoring of oil fields in thenorth-eastern part of the sea, there was established the North Caspian ecological base for oil spill response. "Ak Beren" blowout response group specialists are annually trained in the UK.