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Caspian Sea Level Fallen So Much that Russia and Kazakhstan To Dredge a Channel to Offshore Wells
July 27th, 2025
The water level of the Caspian Sea has fallen to its lowest level in recorded history, restricting the ability of ships to pass through former channels, especially in the sea’s northern portions. In response, Russia and Kazakhstan have announced plans to dredge a channel through increasingly shallow waters to allow their ships to pass. Russia’s […]
Read more »To Protect the Sea, the Kazakh Government Must Disclose Caspian Oil Agreements
April 12th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at efforts to protect the Caspian Sea: The fate of the Caspian Sea hangs in the balance. A vital and irreplaceable natural treasure, the world’s largest landlocked body of water is being plundered in secrecy, its future dictated by international oil and gas giants operating behind closed doors. This opaque […]
Read more »The Shrinking Caspian Sea: An Environmental and Geopolitical Emergency
January 22nd, 2025
Via The Diplomat, an article on allowing the Caspian Sea to succumb to industrial exploitation and climate-induced desiccation would be an irreversible tragedy: Last month, an 18th-century 28-meter wooden shipwreck was discovered off the Mazandaran coast of the Caspian Sea in southern Iran. Operating under Russian influence, the ship likely comprised part of a merchant fleet carrying botanical […]
Read more »Climate Change—and Complacency—Is Drying Up the Caspian Sea
January 11th, 2025
Via World Politics Review, a look at how climate change – and complacency – is drying up the Caspian Sea: The Caspian Sea is a geographical marvel and a critical resource for the five countries—Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan—that border it. But the future of the world’s largest enclosed inland body of water is […]
Read more »Water Woes: The Caspian Sea Is Shrinking Rapidly
November 27th, 2024
Via The Economist, a look at the implications of the Caspian Sea’s decline for Russia: FOR MANY living on Kazakhstan’s coast, it was obvious long ago. The Caspian Sea is drying up. The world’s largest inland body of water has dropped by two metres since the mid-1990s, shrinking by 15,000 square km, an area bigger than […]
Read more »Caspian Sea: At Risk of Desertification
August 21st, 2024
Via Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting, a report on the Caspian Sea: In November-December 2023, Beda organized the research group ?????? / SUSPENDED MATTER focused on exploring the environmental policies of the Soviet Union and their long-term consequences in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the South Caucasus. One notable outcome of the group’s work […]
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