Caspian governments will be presented with concrete recommendations for boosting public stakeholder engagement in the Tehran Convention following a deal reached at a stakeholders' meeting last month.

The Tehran Convention - ratified by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan - fosters cooperation for the protection of the Caspian Sea.

Participants at the stakeholder meeting converged around a set of recommendations for public involvement in both the process and implementation of the Convention when gathering in Astrakhan in the Russian Federation on 12-13 August.

The event took place in the margins of Caspian Day celebrations in the city - which included round table discussions, a clean technology trade fair, a Caspian traditions market and a photo exhibition – marking the ninth anniversary of the entry into force of the Tehran Convention on 12 August 2006, now celebrated in all littoral states.

The recommendations, which will be presented to the governments at the upcoming Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, include among others a call for national and regional stakeholder networks to be formed and a micro-grants programme to be set up for environmental projects run by local organisations.

The meeting brought together representatives from civil society, local communities, private sector and academia as well as government officials of the Convention Parties.

Participants also seized the chance to celebrate 20 years of international environmental cooperation in the Caspian Sea region under the Caspian Environment Programme, from which the Tehran Convention emerged.

The Secretariat of the Tehran Convention is administered by the UNEP Regional Office for Europe.

For more details please contact daniel.nixdorf@unep.org