ABSTRACT
The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland sea.1 It is subject to a number of environmental concerns that have become increasingly politicised and internationalised since 1991. The maritime environment has been affected by long-term pollution from coastal and river-located industrial, agricultural and domestic activities, and the small Soviet energy sector active in the sea. These problems have been compounded by the collapse of the USSR which has been followed by unregulated fishing and increased hydrocarbon exploitation. The key issues are:
the general environmental impact of past and present economic practices the fate of the economically important sturgeon stock the tensions between the republics’ different national economic development
objectives and between hydrocarbon exploitation and commercial fishing.
