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Eastern Caspian
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Environment and Security
Geopolitical and energy security considera-
tions will continue to influence the way global
and regional actors perceive the eastern Cas-
pian region in the coming decade. Political
stability and security in the larger basin will be
of paramount importance for further signifi-
cant development of the region. To minimize
real or perceived security threats, Caspian
Sea states should further develop trust and
confidence – building measures that ultimate-
ly lead to greater regional cooperation and in-
tegration. This in turn would enable states to
respond more effectively to new challenges
such as the impacts of climate change.
The transition from a planned to a market
economy has been largely based on the
extraction and exportation of hydrocarbon
resources. This situation is changing the
structure of national economies, the overall
importance of coastal areas and the live-
lihoods of people living in the region. Al-
though both countries have benefited from
energy-sector revenue, the development of
oil and gas resources also challenges the
distribution of associated wealth and ben-
efits and strengthens the dependence of
the local economy and job markets on this
sector. The Kazakh and Turkmen provinces
on the Caspian Sea shores all show signs of
economic overspecialization. Further Gross
Regional Product growth depends largely on
the energy sector as agriculture is declining.
Fisheries, a traditional source of revenues for
riverside and coastal communities, have also
been in constant decline since the 1990s.
Urban centres have become strategic nodes
for services to the energy sector (financial
services, transportation, housing, etc.), at-
tracting people from rural areas, other parts
of the country and abroad. More than half
of the region’s population is currently living
in coastal urban areas near the oilfields and
mineral deposits, widening the gap between
urban centres on the coast and the rural hin-
terland. The rapid development of urban cen-
tres is often unplanned, creating stark differ-
ences within the urban centres themselves,
between areas served by recent municipal in-
frastructure, and those lacking such services
or depending on decaying infrastructure.
These developments are also reflected in
changes in the wage structure of the east-
ern Caspian region. Despite an overall rise in
salaries, substantial wage differences persist
between the oil-and-gas sector and other
sectors, particularly agriculture and fisher-
ies. Furthermore, with the decline of fishing
and agriculture, employment opportunities
are becomingly increasingly scarce in the
construction industry and sectors other than
energy. Such a situation further increases
the differences in living conditions between
urban centres and rural areas, where making
a living is increasingly difficult.
Intensive fishing since 1950s and other
factors such as damage to the spawning
grounds in the Volga and Ural deltas, dam
construction, over-fishing, and increasing
poaching and pollution, have caused rapid
depletion of fish stocks. Other factors have
further contributed to the dramatic drop
in fish stocks: invasive species have been
competing with the Caspian Sea’s marine
fauna leading to a decrease in the avail-
ability of food. The catch of sturgeon, the
Caspian Sea’s main commercial fish, has
steadily declined in recent decades from 16
800 tonnes in 1981, through 8 000 tonnes in
1991, to less than 200 in 2007 leading to a
temporary ban on caviar exports imposed
in 2001 by the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fau-