Drying Up of Caspian Hitting Kazakhstan Hardest among Caspian Littoral States, Astana Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 8 – The drying up of the Caspian Sea is already hitting Kazakhstan hardest among the five Caspian littoral states – who also include Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan – forcing Astana to strengthen its navy, dredge access routes to its ports, and deal with new land that the sea has receded from.

            And that trend is likely to continue, Kazakhstan ecologists and government experts say, because the northern portion of the sea will likely continue to see its water level decline faster and its seabeds silt up more quickly than the southern portions of the sea (casp-geo.ru/obmelenie-kaspiya-kazahstan-mozhet-postradat-bolshe-vseh/).

            These differences in the rate of the drying up of the Caspian also are certain to force both Russia and China to change their plans for trade routes both north and south and east and west on that body of water and thus have an outside influence on the world beyond the borders of the littoral states.

              For background on the steps Astana has already taken to cope with the drying up of the Caspian, see jamestown.org/program/caspian-sea-drying-up-forcing-coastal-countries-to-respond/, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/03/caspian-seas-declining-water-levels.html; windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/07/northern-sections-of-caspian-sea.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/10/declining-water-levels-in-caspian-plus.html.

And for details on the way in which these steps and others have changed the naval balance on its surface, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/10/kazakhstan-navy-demonstrates-growing.html, jamestown.org/program/kazakhstan-rapidly-moving-to-become-dominant-naval-power-on-the-caspian, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/03/kazakhstan-conducts-major-naval.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/06/kazakhstans-navy-takes-delivery-of-36th.html.