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Caspian Day: Celebration of the Caspian Day in all Caspian littoral countries 

5 August 2010

Russian version of this announcement can be found here

"Let Caspian Live", "Biodiversity is a Life", "Caspian Sea is a Pearl of the Planet" are the slogans for the Fourth Anniversary of entry into force of the Tehran Convention (Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea) to be celebrated on August 12, 2010 in the Caspian littoral countries. The Tehran Convention is the first legally binding agreement aimed at prevention and reduction of pollution, restoration the environment, using the Sea's resources in a sustainable and reasonable manner and cooperation to protect the environment, which entered into force on August 12, 2006. Celebration of the Caspian Day was decided at the First Conference of Parties (COPI) to the Tehran Convention in Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2007. Since then, Caspian Day is celebrated on 12 August annually in the littoral countries in order to draw public attention to the need to safeguard the unique Caspian Sea environment and make the protection of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea a responsibility of each and every individual.

This year Caspian Day will be celebrated in the coastal cities of Baku, Rasht Aktau, Astrakhan and Turkmenbashi. The official meetings in the form of conference, roundtable and regional meetings on national level are planned to be held with participation of national agencies, non-governmental and civil society organization representatives, as well as representatives of academic institutions and private sector. The topic of these meetings will be devoted to the problems of conservation of the unique Caspian Sea biodiversity on occasion of the International Year of Biodiversity. United Nation Environment Program (UNEP) has declared the Year of 2010 as the year of the Biodiversity.
The Celebration program consists of various events such as competitions for children on the best drawings, poem, sand sculpture, as well as concerts and performances to be held for residents of coastal cities. Clean up activity will be organized in Baku. A cloth tunnel of 20 m length and 2 meters height will be produced and presented for the communities in the city of Rasht, on which biodiversity of the Caspian Sea and its wetlands will be presented. Regatta on the Caspian Sea with a demonstration of children's drawings will be held in the city of Aktau. In addition, various promotional items such as bright and colorful booklets, postcards, posters, souvenirs, t-shirts, caps and etc, which are emphasizing on the necessity for conservation of Caspian Sea biodiversity and protection of its unique environment, will be displayed and distributed among celebration participants.

The Caspian Day will be celebrated by the littoral countries with the financial support of the UNDP/GEF CASPECO Project and Tehran Convention Interim Secretariat. CASPECO project which is the short title for "The Caspian Sea: Restoring Depleted Fisheries and consolidation of a Permanent Regional Environmental Governance Framework Project" aims to assist the littoral countries to establish an eco-based and effective approach to the management of bioresources and to strengthen the regional environmental governance. One of the main objectives of the Project is to enhance stakeholders' engagement in the Tehran Convention process.

More information can be found at www.caspianenvironment.org  or please contact Project Management and Coordination Unit of the CASPECO Project in Astana: tel + 7172 798318.