(An Oppenheim Opinion for Political Science 197)
Much of the world depends in the production oil to fuel the economies. However, these oil production activities including the drilling, dredging, excavation, disposal of waste, construction and operation or maintenance of installations, pipelines and other devices related to the activity, can pose a severe damage to the environment. Pollution production and oil spills wreak havoc on the marine wildlife and habitat. In fact, it already threatened the extinction of many land, air and marine animal and plant species. Runoffs from petroleum processing and petrochemical plants have dumped tons of toxic wastes into waters. Gas and oil pipelines have staunched many creeks and rivers, swamping prime pastures and cropland. Furthermore, entire bays and lagoons along coasts have been fouled by oil spills and runoff of toxic chemicals.
As global energy consumption continues to rise, the Caspian Sea region is being touted as the last frontier of exploration. Caspian Sea is bordered by five countries, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and the Turkmenistan. Proven reserves in this area are estimated to be 15-29 billion barrels of oil, and an additional 100 billion barrels may exist. Caspian oil is now considered more prevalent than Persian Gulf oil. However, the persistent pollution in oil production areas in the Caspian Sea has the amounts of annual discharges about 40 million tons of produced waters polluted by oil products. Thus, Caspian Sea is in serious environmental danger.
It is noted that The Caspian sturgeon and the Caspian seal, have been dying in large numbers. Caspian's sturgeon catch has decreased dramatically in recent years, from 30,000 tons in 1985 to 13,300 tons in 1990 and then to as low as 2,100 tons in 1994. Moreover, According to a report by AP, dated 21 June 2000, thousands of seals have died in the area.
Iran and Russia are considered to be the greatest polluters contributing 80% pollution to the Caspian Sea. According to the report of the Energy Information Administration in 2000, untreated waste from the Volga River, into which half the population of Russia - and most of its heavy industry - drains its sewage, empties directly into the Caspian Sea. And as of February 13, 2010, Iran has started drilling its first exploratory well 1,550 meters under the seabed of the Caspian Sea in search for oil in the resource-rich body of water. There is an increasing risk of oil spills in the Caspian, and it will continue to increase, from activities such as offshore oil exploration and production, the transfer of produced oil to land terminals, the export shipment of oil by variety of means, and the movement of refined products to ports around the Caspian.
These two countries - Iran and Russia - are both signatories to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Conflict with the convention may further arise, if these countries will not take actions on controlling and preventing pollution in the area. Article 145 of the said convention states that “necessary measures shall be taken in accordance with respect to activities in the area to ensure effective protection for the marine environment from harmful effects which may arise from such activities.” Russia was already been noted as the major distributor of pollution in the area, and though it is the first oil drilling activity of Iran, and no major oil spills and leakage of pipelines have yet recorded, but there is a high possibility of its occurrence in the future. In order to efficiently control, reduce and prevent pollution it brings to the marine environment of Caspian Sea, these two countries should first ratify the Convention, so that it could be applied to them. Further, joint sustainable development agreement between states is necessary to protect the marine environment as well as the health of the population while gearing towards the development of their economies.
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