First Meeting of the Parties to Caspian Sea Convention

The First Meeting of the Parties to the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment for the Caspian Sea held its first MOP in May. The documents are now available at: http://www.unep.ch/roe/Caspian_cop1.htm.

The development of the first draft protocols for priority areas of concern, namely: 1. the Protocol on Biodiversity Conservation; 2. the  Protocol on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context (EIA); and 3. the Protocol on Pollution from Land-Based Sources  [and Activities] (LBS), continues apace, though the slow pace of negotiations and egregious underfunding of the regime to date may not bode well for the future viability of the Convention.