Climate Change & the Caspian Sea.

How will climate change impact the Caspian Sea region?

How will the global community be impacted by the caspian sea and climate change

Are other places experiencing the same effects as the Caspian Sea?

What is being done to combat the effects of climate change?

How has climate change impacted the Caspian Sea?

Looking at how climate change has impacted and will impact the Caspian Sea.

Climate change & the caspian Sea

Image Credit: https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/136745/view/caspian-sea-satellite-image

Are other places experiencing the same effects as the Caspian Sea?

Yes! Inland seas and lakes are predicted to be greatly impacted by climate change (Prange et al. 2020). Specifically the water levels of many of these inland seas and lakes like the Caspian are expected to drop. One such example is the nearby Aral Sea, located several hundred miles east of the Caspian. It is the waterbody depicted in the bottom middle of this window and was already drying out due to mismanagement by Soviet Authorities and post-Soviet nations but climate change is making it even more difficult to restore it.

Figure 1: Comparison of the Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2014 (right)

photo credit: https://bio.libretexts.org/Sandboxes/tholmberg_at_nwcc.edu/Introduction_to_Environmental_Science/12%3A_Water_Availability_and_Use/12.3%3A_Case_Study_-_The_Aral_Sea_-_Going_Going_Gone

How will climate change impact the Caspian Sea region?

The Caspian Sea region has a lot to lose to climate change. The main effect of climate change, reduced water levels will cause:

• A loss of infrastructure: Lower water levels have caused damage to port infrastructure and will continue to do so, affecting shipping and trade in the region.
• Agricultural impacts: Changes in water availability and temperature could affect agricultural productivity, especially in countries like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, where agriculture is an important economic sector. Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest producers of cotton.
• Oil and gas industry: The Caspian is rich in oil and gas resources, and changes in the environment, such as erosion or lower water levels, could complicate extraction and transport activities.

How has Climate Change

Impacted the Caspian Sea?

The Caspian Sea has always experienced fluctuations in water levels but since the 1980s it has been more drastic than ever before due to climate change. Climate change has resulted in lower water levels in the Sea due to increased rates of evaporation due to higher temperatures. The life that calls the Sea home have suffered as well. Many fish are sensitive to changes in temperature and many species have declined, such as sturgeon. Salinity across the sea has increased due to increased evaporation rates harming life in and around the Sea.

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How will the global community be affected by the climate change impacts on the Caspian Sea?

• The Caspian Sea is a waterbody not many people think of but the shrinkage of it due to climate change will impact the global community greatly.

• It will disrupt global trade and energy. The Caspian Sea is a major hub for the extraction and transport of oil and natural gas. Various pipelines connect Central Asia to European and global markets. Any disruption to this region's energy flow could result in price volatility and supply shortages, particularly for countries that rely on Caspian oil and gas. Falling water levels will impact this infrastructure.

• The Caspian Sea is known for its caviar and Caspian Sea with higher rates of evaporation and a higher salinity will be a great detriment to the industry. Price increases and shortages of caviar are to be expected.

• One good thing that could arise from this is increased global cooperation on climate change. The environmental and economic challenges posed by the Caspian Sea could encourage more robust international cooperation.

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What is being done to combat the effects of climate change?

Within the Caspian Sea, the countries that border it (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran) have not done much to reduce the root cause of climate change, which are carbon emissions. It has been difficult for each country to do so considering each border nation is a major fossil fuel producer and exporter and a large part of their economies are based around the fossil fuel industry.

Although not much has been done to reduce to climate change in the region, The bordering countries have signed several agreements to reduce other environmental impacts such as pollution, an example being the Protocol for the Protection of the Caspian Sea against Pollution from Land-based Sources in 2021.

Sources used to make this presentation:

Scholarly References:

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00075-6
2. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1016/j.euras.2010.10.009

Other sources:

1. https://bio.libretexts.org/Sandboxes/tholmberg_at_nwcc.edu/Introduction_to_Environmental_Science/12%3A_Water_Availability_and_Use/12.3%3A_Case_Study_-_The_Aral_Sea_-_Going_Going_Gone
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20211103123928/https://astanatimes.com/2021/11/president-tokayev-pledges-to-better-protect-caspian-sea-biodiversity-by-signing-caspian-sea-protection-protocol/

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