Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

A protocol on the protection of Caspian Sea environment was adopted in Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian ministry of ecology said. The document was supported by the coastal countries' representatives at the fourth framework conference of the countries that are signatories to a relevant convention inked in Iran in 2003.

The protocol is a second such document -- after the Aktau protocol in 2011 - signed after the adoption of the Tehran Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea. It will ensure the implementation of the Tehran convention.

The Framework Convention is the first legally binding regional agreement signed by all the five Caspian littoral states - Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, laying out general requirements and an institutional mechanism for environmental protection in the resource-rich Caspian region.

The protocol aims to prevent, reduce, control and eliminate pollution to the greatest extent and support environmentally friendly Caspian marine environment.

Opening the conference, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Sergey Donskoy said the Tehran convention is a crucial part of regional environmental cooperation.

In order to enforce the protocol, the convention signatories will prepare national action plans on the pollution sources control, set the emissions limit, promote use of environmentally sound technologies and work to meet environmental quality objectives.

Azerbaijani Deputy Ecology Minister Rauf Hajiyev, Iranian Vice President and head of Environmental Protection Organization Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh, Kazakh Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Marlen Iskakov and Turkmen Environment Minister Babageldi Annabayramov also took part in the conference.

The next ministerial meeting of the Tehran convention member states will take place in Turkmenistan in 2014.

According to the head of Department of Ecology and Nature Protection at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Rasim Sattarzade, Azerbaijan has undertaken solution of the Caspian Sea's environmental problems. About $1 billion has been allocated from the state budget for restoration and purification of the Caspian's stretch along the densely populated Absheron Peninsula, which encompasses the capital Baku and its surrounding regions.

Azerbaijan says it has done extensive work on the modernization of existing and construction of new sewage treatment plants along the Caspian coast. Furthermore, a new wastewater treatment plant is under construction in Sumgayit, an industrial city located 30 km north of Baku.