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sociated media programme resulted in a BBC broad-
cast64, a publication in Wochenzeitung (Germany)65 and
a series of articles by local journalists, trained through-
out the press tour.
As part of ENVSEC, GRID-Arendal continued its collabora-
tion with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and
Eastern Europe (REC), based in Hungary, in implementing
Phase 2 of the Druksiai/Drisvyaty Lake Basin Management
Programme (DLB MP). The programme’s strategic goal is
to strengthen integrated water resources management in
the Druksiai/Drisvyaty lake basin through effective water
resources assessment and reporting systems, institutional
capacity building, enhanced public participation, improved
issue awareness and access to information. As part of its
contribution, GRID-Arendal has finalised the DLB MP offi-
cial project 66 with the GeoIQ information manage-
ment tool integrated into the site.
The Druksiai/Drisvyaty Lake borders 3 countries in
Eastern Europe: Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania. The
decommissioned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant on the
Lithuanian side is the source of concern for bordering
countries. The dismantled nuclear fuel from the reactor
is stored in close (500 m) proximity to the lake. A new
nuclear facility is planned for construction. It will use
the waters of the lake for its cooling system, which has
already caused thermal pollution problems to the lake,
contributing to the decline of biodiversity. Furthermore,
the state protected territory “Braslavskie ozera”, on
the Belarusian side, provides recreation areas for its
population.
The Caspian region remains an important area for EECCA
capacity development where GRID-Arendal has long pro-
vided support to the Tehran Convention, inter alia through
making staff available to the interim Secretariat, and con-
ducting regional assessments in close consultation with
national authorities. Being the first regional and legally
64.
spondent_Tunisia_and_Ukraine_Moldova/
65.
66.
67. Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and Turkmenistan
68.
MoreInfo.asp?ID=4373 (Russian)
fo.asp?ID=4273 (English)
69. TC/COP3/13/Rev.3 12 August 2011
COP3%20Ministerial%20Statement%20%28eng%29%20-%20as%20
adopted.pdf
70.
binding instrument signed by all Caspian littoral states67 ,
the Tehran Convention serves as an overarching frame-
work defining general requirements and providing the
institutional mechanisms for protection of the Caspian
Sea’s marine environment.
i For the Third Conference of the Parties (COP 3) in
August 2011 in Aktau, Kazakhstan, GRID-Arendal
produced the Caspian Sea State of the Environment re-
port.68 The report was approved by the conference and
acknowledged in the Ministerial Statement of the Tehran
Convention COP 3 (see box below). 69 Country officials
were actively involved in drafting the report, an impor-
tant indication of ownership. Its final version has since
been published on the web. 70 While a number of fiduciary
issues highlighted in the report have already been ad-
dressed, the decision to implement far-reaching recom-
mendations has yet to be taken.
Going forward, additional support to the TehranConvention
by GRID-Arendal will take the form of a Caspian Informa-
tion Center (CIC) intended to promote unified environmen-
tal data collection, sharing and ecosystemmonitoring. The
concept of a regionally owned web-based center to promote
andmonitoring, and for public disclosure and outreach was
developed and approved by the parties to the Tehran Con-
GRID-Arendal participated in the Third Conference of the Parties (COP 3) in August 2011 in Aktau, Kazakhstan