OSCE supports workshop on impact of environmental problems in Eastern Caspian Sea region

AKTAU, Kazakhstan, 10 April 2006 - Regional environmental problems of the Eastern Caspian Sea and their impact on the local population is the focus of a workshop, organized by the Environment and Security (ENVSEC) initiative and supported by the OSCE.

The two-day event, which began today in Aktau, brings together experts on the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan, as well as local non-governmental organizations and international organizations.

"The Eastern Caspian Sea region has a wide spectrum of problems with implications for security and stability," said Raul Daussa, Associate Programme Officer of the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities.

"Such problems include safe and proper storage of radioactive and mining waste, securing former nuclear test and military sites, the development of hydrocarbon reserves, water and land resource use and availability, as well as the effects of sea level changes."

The 2003 ENVSEC initiative, a partnership programme of the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme and the OSCE, deals with the transboundary environmental problems that pose risks to human security. It has identified a number of priority thematic areas and hot spots, including the Ferghana Valley, the Caspian shelf and coast, the Aral Sea basin and the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing ground.