Caspian States adopt Biodiversity Protocol and will establish Convention Secretariat in the region.

From 28 to 30 May, ministers of environment and other high-level government officials of the five Caspian States met in Ashgabat for the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) to the Tehran Convention Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea. They took major decisions towards ensuring a sustainable future for the Caspian Sea.

Countries unanimously adopted the Biodiversity Protocol, and two of them have already signed it. The Protocol is an international treaty that obliges the Parties to work together and guides them in the conservation and restoration of the unique Caspian habitats and species such as the celebrated sturgeon and the Caspian seal.

This is the third in a series of Protocols to the Convention. The first two were concluded and signed in 2011 and 2012: the “Aktau” Protocol on regional cooperation in addressing oil spills, and the “Moscow” Protocol on the protection of the Caspian Sea against land-based sources of pollution. The Protocols underline the countries' commitment to cooperating and taking action against the environmental threats facing that Sea.

In recent decades, rapidly growing oil and gas activities, industrial and agricultural pollution, overexploitation of biological resources, and destruction of endemic species’ natural habitats have jeopardized the health and environmental balance of the Caspian Sea’s fragile ecosystem.

The 2003 Tehran Convention—signed by Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan—was a historic breakthrough to halt environmental degradation in the Caspian Sea and to preserve one of the world’s most precious ecosystems.

As the first legally binding agreement between these five countries, this Convention illustrates how only through cooperating with each other can these countries effectively protect the marine environment and with it the livelihoods, health, and well-being of present and future generations.

More Information: mahir.aliyev@unep.org

Following an arsenic spill in Tsana, Georgia, a team of experts led by UNEP and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, visited the country from 2 to 6 May, in the framework of the Environment and Security Initiative project "Addressing Emergency Environment and Security Threats at the Arsenic Mining Site in Tsana, Georgia". International and national experts assessed the situation at three locations in the Tsana area, where arsenic containing mining waste is stored.

The mining factory ceased its operation in the beginning of 1990s leaving mercury containing waste stored at three sites in Tsana (Tsana 1-3). Due to poor management, over 50,000 tons of arsenic containing waste resulting from former Soviet times production of arsenic anhydride and metallic arsenic pose significant risks to the surrounding environment and communities.

The mission was in response to the appeal by Georgia’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resource Protection to OSCE and the ENVSEC Initiative following a flooding in September 2013 that increased the risk of leakage.

The expert team visited Georgia’s National Environmental Agency, which is undertaking the environmental monitoring, including analysis of soil and water samples, and held meetings with the local administration of Lentekhi. They also provided an initial briefing to the Minister, who pledged full support to the technical mission.

More Information: marika.palosaari@unep.org

On 3 June, the European Commission organized an event that brought together celebrities, former politicians, business leaders, media and other personalities, and some of the world’s leading NGOs to discuss why we haven’t collectively made the necessary breakthroughs and how we might do so in the future. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner participated with a TEDx-style talk.

On 4 June, UNEP held a high-level panel discussion on green economy, finance and sustainable production and consumption in Small Island Developing States. UNEP was also involved in a number of sessions, including in the launch of the International Resource Panel (IRP) assessment report "Decoupling in practice".

The following side sessions were held, with UNEP and UNEP-hosted IRP representatives: “Gearing up cities for the circular economy” (with IRP member Maarten Hajer), “Resource efficiency: how to get investors on board?” (with Charles Anderson, Director, UNEP Finance Initiative), “International dimension: resource efficiency in the Sustainable Development Goals” (with George C. Varughese, President of Development Alternatives and IRP member; Prof. Stefan Bringezu, Wuppertal Institute and IRP member; and Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Co-Chair of IRP, Co-President of The Club of Rome and lead author of the Decoupling II report), and “Building the knowledge base for a greener economy” (with Joy A. Kim, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UNEP/Division of Technology, Industry and Economics).

More Information see: New Environmentalism Summit and Green Week

As part of the ENVSEC project “Climate Change and Security in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus“, UNEP and OSCE jointly held two national consultation workshops: in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 8 May, and in Yerevan, Armenia, on 12 May. The workshops convened representatives and experts from national ministries and agencies, international organizations and civil society. Participants examined recent analyses of the trends and impacts of climate change and discussed policies to tackle climate change and its associated potential security risks.

Under this project, launched in 2013 with the support of the EU Instrument for Stability Programme and the Austrian Development Agency, national and regional consultation workshops are held to contribute to three regional climate change and security reports: for Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus. The project aims to increase the understanding and awareness of climate change as a security challenge, and the consequent need for transboundary cooperation on climate change adaptation, and enhancing national and local stakeholders’ capacity to anticipate, prevent and mitigate the potential associated security risks.

More Information: marika.palosaari@unep.org