The Caspian area is the world’s main producer of wild caviar (83% in 2003) and supplies the four largest markets, the European Union, United States, Switzerland and Japan. The construction of several hydroelectric power plants and dams along the Volga river significantly altered the flow of water into the delta and destroyed about 90 per cent of the sturgeon’s spawning grounds, which can be as far as several hundreds of kilometres upstrea...

Caviar imports as reported by three main consumer markets (Japan, European Union and United States)

North American comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) was brought accidentally to the Caspian in the ballast water of oil tankers. A voracious feeder on zooplankton and fish larvae, it first arrived in the Black Sea in the early 1980s where it changed the whole ecosystem and contributed to the collapse of more than two dozen major fishing grounds. From there the comb jelly also invaded the Azov, Marmara and Aegean Seas and most recently the Caspian.

North American comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) was brought accidentally to the Caspian in the ballast water of oil tankers. A voracious feeder on zooplankton and fish larvae, it first arrived in the Black Sea in the early 1980s where it changed the whole ecosystem and contributed to the collapse of more than two dozen major fishing grounds. From there the comb jelly also invaded the Azov, Marmara and Aegean Seas and most recently the Caspi...

Apart from two large urban areas – Baku- Sumgait and Makhachkala-Kaspisk – and the Iranian coast on the southern shore, a very densely populated coastal strip where one agglomeration leads into the next, most of the population living on the shores of the Caspian is rural, with strong religious and family traditions actively maintained. Some cities such as Baku have experienced very rapid urbanisation. In the early 1900s Baku was a city of 248 3...

Public health policies during the Soviet period eliminated several traditional diseases. But for lack of adequate investment in medical equipment and drugs in the 1970s and 1980s they failed to effectively halt a worrying rise in the death rate, for infants and for the population as a whole. This setback is very noticeable all over Russia, but in much of the Caspian basin it went hand in hand with a shortage of amenities, due to the dista...

Public health policies during the Soviet period eliminated several traditional diseases. But for lack of adequate investment in medical equipment and drugs in the 1970s and 1980s they failed to effectively halt a worrying rise in the death rate, for infants and for the population as a whole. This setback is very noticeable all over Russia, but in much of the Caspian basin it went hand in hand with a shortage of amenities, due to the dista...

Total expenditure on health in Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan

Apart from two large urban areas – Baku- Sumgait and Makhachkala-Kaspisk – and the Iranian coast on the southern shore, a very densely populated coastal strip where one agglomeration leads into the next, most of the population living on the shores of the Caspian is rural, with strong religious and family traditions actively maintained. Some cities such as Baku have experienced very rapid urbanisation. In the early 1900s Baku was a city of 248 3...

Many opportunities are offered by the Caspian Sea region. It is important that they are handled with care in order to maintain the rich biological and mineral resources over a long time. The natural wealth of the region around the Caspian Sea in mineral resources also involves high metal concentrations. Industrial activities, in particular mining, are raising the metal concentration in sediments to levels exceeding permissible limits. O...

Often, once the oil extraction activity stops, waste remains and constitutes a hazard. In Kazakhstan there are 19 oilfields with 1485 oil wells in the coastal zone of the Caspian Sea, including 148 in the flooded zone. Drilling technology in the 1960s to 1980s did not account for the corrosive nature of seawater and its effects on metal casing and lay head. Over time, wells have become considerable sources of marine pollution. Some 600 000...

Often, once the oil extraction activity stops, waste remains and constitutes a hazard. In Kazakhstan there are 19 oilfields with 1485 oil wells in the coastal zone of the Caspian Sea, including 148 in the flooded zone. Drilling technology in the 1960s to 1980s did not account for the corrosive nature of seawater and its effects on metal casing and lay head. Over time, wells have become considerable sources of marine pollution. Some 600 000...

Waste accumulated in Caspian Region due to offshore and coastal industrial activities.

Discharge of selected pollutants around Caspian sea. Air quality has generally improved in recent years, mainly because industrial production has dropped drastically since the collapse of the Soviet economic system. But increasing emissions from the expanding oil and gas sector, and a growing number of cars in cities, not only affect the health of local people but contribute to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, in ...

Before industrial operations started in the 1960s, the Koshkar-Ata hollow was a periodic lake rich in natural salt, making it unsuitable for farming. The discovery of vast uranium deposits in the deserts of western Kazakhstan lead to the establishment and rapid development of a uranium extraction and processing industry. At its peak in the 1980s Kazakhstan was producing more than a third of Soviet uranium, with more than 30 uranium mines. ...

Oil production, consumption and export in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan for period 1999-2009.

Oil production in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The region has significantly expended its oil and gas production, and it is set to grow. The increases in outputs so far have been associated with, and encouraged by, an emerging diversity of export routes and markets, supported by large investments.

Land degradation, water issues, and po0llution due to oil production and industrial activities in Azerbaijan. About 30 000 hectares of soil on Azerbaijan’s Absheron peninsula is polluted by oil products and various forms of industrial waste.

Future projection in volume of oil exportation via Black and Mediterranean Seas.

Comparing a series of satellite images from different periods a Californian hydrologist discovered in 1983 that a huge white spot had taken the place of the vast Kara Bogaz Gol gulf (literally “dark gullet” in Turkmen) in the south-east corner of the Caspian. The gulf had simply disappeared. Later re-appearing again. Explanations were narrated in various tales and legends nevertheless the water volume of the bay fluctuates seasonally with the Cas...