OMM Redaksiyası
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the Caspian Sea’s shoreline in Russia had receded by an estimated 20,000 square kilometres over the past 20 years, warning of serious environmental and economic consequences.
Speaking at the Caspian Environmental Summit in Turkmenistan, Putin said the sea’s water level was falling by an average of nine centimetres a year. He said the decline threatened biodiversity, fisheries and the stability of coastal soils.
Falling water levels were harming the region’s socio-economic conditions and reducing the investment appeal of trans-Caspian logistics corridors, Putin said. He also warned of possible job losses, a lower quality of life and other crises, and attributed the decline primarily to climate change.
Putin said Russia was working with regional partners to protect the Caspian ecosystem and supported an action plan on fluctuations in the sea’s water level through 2036. He also backed setting up a special commission to investigate the causes of the decline and develop measures to address its consequences.
Russia was preparing a comprehensive research programme on changes in the Caspian Sea’s water level through 2030, he said. Moscow had also proposed creating a digital twin of the sea using artificial intelligence to model water-level changes and improve navigation safety.
Putin called for coordinated action among the Caspian littoral states to preserve the sea’s ecosystem and support sustainable regional development.
The summit was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov.
