Russia and Azerbaijan are to adopt a joint program, which will include adaptation measures on the shallowin of the Caspian Sea in the first quarter of 2025. This was announced by Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov in a meeting with Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babaev in Baku.
“On the instructions of President Vladimir Putin, we are conducting a bilateral dialog with Azerbaijani colleagues on preventing the Caspian Sea from shallowing. Today, Russian and Azerbaijani scientists shared their research and opinions on further actions. The Caspian Sea is characterized by natural water level fluctuations. But the latest decrease has an extremely strong impact on the economy,” the press service of the ministry quoted A.Kozlov as saying.
The Minister noted that after studying these processes, Russian scientists concluded that the level of the Caspian Sea is mainly influenced by climatic factors: natural fluctuations in the inflow of rivers flowing into the sea and the intensity of evaporation from its surface. In other words, the level is affected by climate change, which cannot be stopped, one can only adapt to the transformations taking place. “It is these adaptation measures that we will include in our Russian-Azerbaijani program, which we will adopt in the first quarter of 2025,” A.Kozlov said.
Periodic rises and falls in water level are a natural pattern inherent in the nature of the Caspian Sea. However, since 2005, the level has begun to fall at an unprecedented rate. According to the Minister, over 20 years it has dropped by 2.4 meters and continues to fall. The negative consequences of shallowing affect all the countries that are washed by the Caspian Sea: Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
“The issue of the Caspian Sea shallowing is complex and important, it requires a comprehensive approach and the participation of all the five Caspian littoral states. Now we are working out the format of work and a platform for the creation of a five-party structure within which we will solve the problem of the Caspian Sea shallowing. I would like to emphasize once again that no measures can be implemented separately. Only together, only in close cooperation of the five Caspian littoral states,” the A.Kozlov said.
RF President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev discussed this problem on October 8 agreeing to organize joint work to prevent the Caspian Sea from shallowing. In mid-November, RF Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ali Asadov that Baku and Moscow would set up a commission whose tasks would be to establish the causes of the sea level drop and to develop mechanisms to reduce its shallowing.
Photo: RF Ministry of natural resources