Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The United Nations has welcomed as "an important step" the renewed commitment of the five states bordering the Caspian Sea to protect its marine environment, Radio Liberty reported.

The UN Environmental Program (UNEP) said that Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan had reached a crucial milestone by adopting and signing one more protocol to the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, also known as the Tehran Convention.

The new protocol, UNEP said, addresses one of the major environmental threats to the Caspian: pollution derived from land-based sources, such as agriculture and industry.

The protocol on the protection of Caspian Sea environment was adopted in Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian ministry of ecology said.

The protocol is a second such document -- after the Aktau protocol in 2011 - signed after the adoption of the Tehran Convention. It will ensure the implementation of the convention signed in the Iranian capital in 2003. The protocol aims to prevent, reduce, control and eliminate pollution to the greatest extent and support environmentally friendly Caspian marine environment.

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