Wide Spectrum of Institutional Issues
The final task of the running project in autumns 2001 will be to assess the current institutional situation regarding the Caspian desertification and to define recommendations for the Strategic Environmental Action Plan for the Caspian. The recommendations are likely to mainly focus on national solutions. The overall goal is to improve the institutional situation. This includes a wide spectrum of issues such as

• Legislation

• Institutional structure for desertification issues in a broad sense (including not only environmental but also socio-economical issues) on all governmental levels especially improving local governments

• UN Convention on Combating Desertification

• Regional Planning Practices

• Information basis

• Governmental programmes

• Public Awareness process

• Funding for desertification damages

• Training needs for desertification, Regional Planning, Socio-Economic issues

• Financial needs.

Legislation
Comparative studies of environmental laws of Caspian countries will lead to end recommendations on how to address land degradation (or desertification) issues in legislation in all five countries. This will be based on an investigation of the current legal and regulatory approach required by the United Nations Convention on Combating desertification. Regulatory issues of Desertification serve as measures to protect people against desertification (oversanding, salinisation, loss of agricultural productivity), and to protect high valued “desert” ecosystems (against the governmental mainstream to use the desert as a resource for cropland, for the wastewater discharge).

Analysis and recommendations have to be made for the governmental management as yearly desertification status reports, education (particularly in social and economic issues), taxation issues (support for those farmers who produce under desertification threat), levels of governance for degradation of land, sectoral and comprehensive governmental desertification management, non-central Regional Planning.

Further Plans

Coastal Degradation and Regional Planning
The Caspian Environment Programme focuses on the sea itself and therefore on the investigation and management of threats to marine bioresources and biodiversity, pollution control and monitoring of the Sea, and water level rise and its causes and forecast. However, the degradation of the Caspian Sea cannot be fully understood without studying the coastal areas, their settlements and land uses, population and economy. Environmental changes and the transition process especially stressed the Caspian coastal region in the past decades. Such processes are:

• Flooding and damage of settlments, ports, roads, and industrial objects

• Flooding and damage of arable land and irrigation systems (mainly in Islamic Republic Iran)

• Pollution and degradation of vegetation and soil cover by oil and gas industry, in some areas of other mining industry (as sulphur salt in Turkmenistan)

• Deforestation in humid areas (mainly in Islamic Republic Iran)

• Overgrazing of large areas since 30 years due to too large number of cattle, sheep, the increase of rural population

• Reduction of the industrial production in previous Soviet Union Caspian republics and often full shut down of factories due to flooding, often due to economical causes (reduced turnover, lack of raw materials, and spare parts, financial weakness of newly independent countries)

• Destroying of the previous transportation network around the Caspian Soviet Union republics and increase of the periphery degree as especially of Balkan Velayat (Turkmenistan), Atyrau and Mangistau Oblasts (Kazakhstan)

• Decline of living quality as a result of the increased number of unemployed people

• Decline of Public Health state due to drinking water and fresh food problems (especially in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan), decrease of medical care in periphery regions

• Drift to the cities and especially to the capitals and regional centres (mainly in previous Soviet Union republics due to damage of houses after flooding and land degradation).

Therefore the Centre in Ashgabad expects to move to a more comprehensive analysis of degradation of the natural as well as the socio-economic environment. From this basis recommendations will be made for the sustainable development of the Caspian region. This needs a very close cooperation especially with local governments in the Caspian region to develop solutions to environmental and socio-economical challenges around the Caspian Sea.