OSCE Almaty Centre to organize public hearing on Caspian Sea oil spills
Decades of oil and gas export have left the Caspian Sea with a legacy of environmental damage. Here, a scene from Azerbaijan's coastline. (OSCE/Alex Nitzsche) Photo details
ALMATY, 26 April 2004 - The OSCE Centre in Almaty is to hold a public hearing on preventing oil spills in the Caspian Sea, in the city of Atyrau from 29 to 30 April. The event is organized together with Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, the Atyrau regional administration, and the ecological non-governmental organization (NGO) "Globus".
The hearing will bring attention to the economic-environmental rehabilitation of the Caspian Sea region and the need to put an end to oil spills. This issue has raised concern because of the expected large-scale industrial exploration and extraction of oil in the environmentally vulnerable shelf zone of the Caspian.
Recommendations will be submitted to the government and parliament and will be disseminated to the wider public.
Participants will include representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Energy and Mineral Resources, Justice, as well as parliamentarians, members of regional state structures, representatives of oil companies operating in the Caspian Sea, and NGOs.
The hearing will bring attention to the economic-environmental rehabilitation of the Caspian Sea region and the need to put an end to oil spills. This issue has raised concern because of the expected large-scale industrial exploration and extraction of oil in the environmentally vulnerable shelf zone of the Caspian.
Recommendations will be submitted to the government and parliament and will be disseminated to the wider public.
Participants will include representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Energy and Mineral Resources, Justice, as well as parliamentarians, members of regional state structures, representatives of oil companies operating in the Caspian Sea, and NGOs.