ISAR www.isar.org Give and Take A Journal on Civil Society in Eurasia Winter 2001 Issue of Give & Take Searching for More Than Oil: A Deeper Look at the Caspian by Michelle Kinman Michelle Kinman is the Washington, DC information coordinator of ISAR's Caspian program Barely half an hour's drive down the coast from Baku, Azerbaijan, it is impossible to miss sight of a vast oil field dotted with signs of development -- massive equipment, pipes, buildings and ships. It is only upon closer inspection that the laundry hanging from the dilapidated buildings and the children clambering about grease-coated equipment hint at difficult times. I was visiting this site in April 1999 when I was stopped by a man strolling with his son and granddaughter. He told me how tough life has been for those with nowhere else to live than amid the shadows of the oil industry; how there is no money for food, no jobs, and few opportunities for the younger generation. He asked me to take photos and share his story so that I and others could draw fair conclusions about the region's future. Upon my return to Washington, DC, I found that the story of the Caspian had captured the attention of National Geographic, the Clinton Administration, the Washington Post and even the producers of the James Bond films. What is it about the region -- formerly obscure to most Westerners aside from Russophiles and caviar lovers -- that has interested such varied players? The glib answer is the oil boom of the past ten years, but the story of the Caspian's development begins much earlier. Its impact on the environment and people of the region is not often acknowledged. Known through the centuries for its petroleum reserves, Azerbaijan was the site of oil extraction as early as the 1840s. Supported by investments from the Nobel, Rockefeller and Rothschild families, the country's capital city of Baku became a boomtown, responsible for approximately 50 percent of the global hydrocarbon supply by the beginning of the 20th century. By the 1930s, the region had retreated from the international commerce arena. The creation of the USSR, combined with the Soviet focus on energy development in Siberia and the Far East, kept oil and gas development around Baku at a minimum. Decades later, when the prospect of open borders and new markets became a reality for the newly independent states, many were eager to pick up the story where it had been left off; however, the geographic focus and the number of players had expanded greatly. Attempting to Split the Sea Soviet-era exploration and advances in technology made it possible to identify significant oil and gas fields throughout the region. The Caspian basin as a whole, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, is now the stage for a whole spectrum of players working to make the development of the region a profitable venture -- often with conflicting plans and goals. To begin with, an array of transnational oil companies is represented in the region, each trying to secure the exploration, extraction and transportation rights for onshore and offshore fields. Courting those transnational corporations and the supporting international financial institutions (for example, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) are the national governments, each feeling pressure to cement its economic independence and political sovereignty. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, in particular, are focused on maintaining independence from their Russian neighbor to the north, while Russia is reasserting its influence in the region. To the south, Iran is making certain that it has an equal voice and is not sideswiped by the activities of the former Soviet states. Georgia's role can affect the equation also, given that its territory bears pipelines connecting the Caspian to the Black Sea. Further complicating these relations, the United States and, to a lesser degree, other nations are determined to keep Russian and Iranian influence in the region at a minimum, most notably by ensuring that economically profitable and politically advantageous pipeline routes bypass these nations at all costs. These competing interests manifest themselves in the heated disagreement over the legal status of the Caspian. Commonly referred to as a sea, there is no consensus on whether the Caspian falls under the legal category of a sea or a lake. More than a mere semantic distinction, it is often maintained that the classification will determine the legal division of the Caspian and its resources among the littoral states. Prior to 1992, the Caspian was governed by the Soviet Union and Iran according to treaties signed in 1921 and 1940. When the USSR dissolved, leaving four new countries to govern the Caspian with Iran, the legal status issue resurfaced. Given the significant petroleum reserves just off its coast, Azerbaijan has typically advocated for division along national lines, with each country controlling approximately a fifth of the Caspian's subsoil resources, seabed and water column. Russia and Kazakhstan have recently come together to back the idea that each country should have the rights to the subsoil mineral deposits in its sector, while the seabed and water column would be commonly owned. Iran, whose portion of the Caspian is too deep for successful oil ventures, has proposed that the sea either be divided into exact fifths or each country should have the exclusive economic rights to the zones parallel to its shoreline with the remainder jointly managed. Adding to the uncertainty, Turkmenistan has changed its position numerous times as it weighs the best outcome for the development of the hydrocarbon reserves along the eastern portion of the Caspian. Turkmenistan is not alone in its indecisiveness, as each country modifies its position to suit the current business and political atmosphere. It is often said that the legal status question must be resolved before the development of the Caspian can move forward, but activities already underway have profound consequences for environment. While every bit as dramatic and with just as much at stake, environmental concerns have primarily factored into political and business negotiations only when convenient and profitable. As long as the environment is considered a simple leveraging tool, the rich combination of animal and plant life that forms the delicate Caspian ecosystem will remain jeopardized. The Living Sea -- Wildlife, Flora, Fauna Measuring 1200 kilometers at its longest and covering between 370,000 and 400,000 square kilometers, the landlocked Caspian is home to diverse aquatic life. Perhaps most renowned are the three species of Caspian sturgeon. Home to over 90 percent of the world's sturgeon population, the Caspian is the global hub of sturgeon fishing and the commercially valuable caviar business. Overharvesting of the fish and their roe, combined with hazardous river engineering projects and water pollution, have rapidly pushed the sturgeon stock to the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, sturgeon are not the only inhabitants of the Caspian's waters whose future is at stake. Long a beloved symbol of the region, the Caspian seal has been included in the International Union for Conservation and Nature listing of vulnerable species (photos at right by Peter Bukharitsyn, top, and Altai Zhatkanbaev, middle and bottom). The seals are routinely at risk from overhunting, pollution and a scarcity of food. Their vulnerability was demonstrated this past summer when thousands of dead seals mysteriously washed up on the coasts of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. As government figures, oil company representatives, scientists and environmental activists provide conflicting reports of the possible cause of these deaths, the one clear conclusion that has emerged is the importance of better understanding and protecting the Caspian. Observation and preservation efforts must extend beyond the water's edge to include the region's birds, terrestrial flora and fauna -- key components to the basin's ecosystem. In addition to providing habitat for the area's endemic birds, the Caspian region is the temporary home for great numbers of migratory bird species such as the flamingo, the rare white-tailed eagle and the last remaining Siberian white cranes. Many of these birds find food and shelter in wetlands throughout the region, areas that act as filters for the basin and contribute to the diversity of plant and animal life. Farther inland, the terrain and wildlife vary greatly, from the mountains, woodlands and semi-deserts of Georgia and Azerbaijan to the vast deserts of Turkmenistan. For all their differences, these areas share common threats. Exposure to urban and industrial pollution, agricultural runoff into the region's rivers and the Caspian, contamination from on- and off-shore drills, and leaks from pipelines all put the unique Caspian ecosystem at risk. Taking Account of Many Factors, Coordinating Efforts Among Many Players As the region's air, water and soil become increasingly polluted, the health and well-being of communities near industrial facilities and along pipeline routes is being compromised, elevating the need for citizen involvement in decision-making processes. Throughout the basin, local activists are working to identify and resolve environmental problems in their communities. NGOs are tracking and studying endangered species, monitoring the health impacts of pipeline construction, developing environmental education programs for children, and organizing public awareness campaigns about environmental conditions in the region. Each citizen group in each country faces its own set of challenges, but a number of constraints are common throughout the Caspian. The combination of historically weak roots of citizen activism, limited funding sources for nongovernmental activities, and poor communication infrastructure has created a difficult atmosphere for all NGOs. The sheer magnitude of the region, not to mention its multiple languages, create further obstacles for organizations trying to resolve the environmental problems of the Caspian together. In spite of these obstacles, the important activities of NGOs are slowly gaining recognition from businesses, governments and the public. Whether all of these sectors can coordinate and deliver the promises of prosperity in the next period of the Caspian's history remains to be seen. Will the petroleum industry continue to overshadow large segments of the population or will all layers of society benefit economically from the region's development? And at what cost to the environment and human health? These are the questions that carry real significance for the inhabitants of the Caspian region and that demand attention from all who are active in the area. My initial trip to Azerbaijan provided me with a first opportunity to delve a little deeper into the story -- beyond the petroleum statistics and geopolitical maneuvers most often discussed in the West. In subsequent trips, I have been exposed to the efforts of local environmental activists from around the basin, some of whom have contributed their experiences and reflections on the Caspian's future in the following pages. Each of their accounts introduces another narrative, whether historical, environmental or social, illuminating the broader story of the Caspian more completely. Only when all voices are considered together can we hope to grasp the complexities of the Caspian and plan for its future. _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
