Silting Up of Caspian Irreversible and Littoral Steps Must Adapt to that Reality, Baku’s Senior Official for Water Use Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 15 – The process of the silting up of the Caspian is irreversible and countries along its coastline or using its waters need to adapt to that reality rather than continuing to debate whether this is happening or suggest that nature itself will reverse it, Aliaga Azizov says.

            The head of the State Service for the Supervision of the Use and Preservation of the Water Resources of Azerbaijan puts Baku at odds with some in Moscow who continue to deny the obvious and makes it more likely that Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will now feel free to say the same thing (casp-geo.ru/protsess-obmeleniya-kaspiya-neobratim-schitayut-v-baku/).

            Whether Moscow will change course now that someone as senior as Azizov has made this declaration is unclear, as is the question of whether Tehran, which is currently closely allied with Russia on this and other questions, is also up for grabs. But it does suggest that reality is winning even as Russia is taking a beating on this issue.

            According to the Azerbaijani government official, “the level of the Caspian, over the last five years has fallen by approximately one meter, over the past ten years by 1.5 meters, and over the last 30 years by 2.5 meters. This exceeds the speed of the rise of the world ocean by several orders of magnitude.”