Documents

The Khazarskiy State Nature Reserve, the Caspian Group of the IUCN Joint SSC-WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan; e-mail address: mammedowmerdan514@gmail.com

The Persian leopard Panthera pardus tulliana is an endangered large felid living in mountainous landscapes of the Caucasus, Southwest Asia and parts of Central Asia. In this paper, we review available literature to update our information on the status, population, ecology, threats, and management recommendations in regard to this big cat in the region. Most of the Alborz and Kopetdag Ecoregions harbour the largest population of Persian leopard with some protected areas having the highest densities of these carnivores. A total of 348 to 440 leopards are guessed to exist in the region, making it one of the largest continuous leopard hotspots across Asia. Almost 80% of the population exists in Iran, followed by Turkmenistan which holds the second largest Persian leopard population, while the leopard population in Kazakhstan mainly depends on transboundary transient individuals from Turkmenistan.

The purpose of the Report is to review the activities of Kazakhstan related to implementation of obligations under the Tehran Convention in the period from 2019 to 2020. It includes an analysis of the decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the national environmental legislation, as well as an overview of programme documents of Kazakhstan aimed at protecting the Caspian Sea environment.

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

The article examines recent Caspian Sea level change by using both satellite radar altimetry and satellite gravity data. The altimetry record for 2002–2015 shows a declining level at a rate that is approximately 20 times greater than the rate of global sea level rise. Seasonal fluctuations are also much larger than in the world oceans. With a clearly defined geographic region and dominant signal magnitude, variations in the sea level and associated mass changes provide an excellent way to compare various approaches for processing satellite gravity data. 

Baku 2017