Blueing the Caspian Sea Project
The document “Environmental and Social Management Framework” (ESMF) has been approved. It sets out in detail the main provisions of the International Blueing the Caspian Sea Project, intended for three Caspian countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistana) for a five-year period. The project will be implemented in three areas (“components”): strengthening pollution monitoring in the Caspian Sea; improving the planning of biodiversity conservation activities in coastal and marine protected areas (PAs) of the Caspian Sea; and coordinating, monitoring, and evaluating the project’s results. To implement the project, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides a grant of US$11.74 million (US$3.50 million is allocated to the United Nations Environment Programme and US$8.24 million – to the World Bank).
Download the final version of ESMF.
Component 1: Strengthening pollution monitoring (estimated cost: GEF $3.15 million).
Given the multiple sources, kinds, and varying impacts of pollutants affecting the Caspian Sea, the project will focus on developing systematic approaches and comparable monitoring, assessment, and action across the three countries in several dimensions of critical impact of pollution on biodiversity, ecosystem health, and water quality. The generation of comparable parameters and formats for pollution monitoring will enable countries to establish the state of pollution at regional level.
Activities will focus on common areas at the national level with maximum impact on the Caspian Sea ecosystem and waters, including: (a) monitoring pollution from freshwater inputs (watersheds and runoffs); (b) enhancing coastal and marine pollution monitoring within marine PAs and nature reserves; and (c) addressing pollution originating from oil and gas exploration and production.
The project will provide technical assistance to establish a national-level consultative and collaborative mechanisms for private and public sectors in the oil and gas industry with other sectors—notably regarding environment and marine resources—active in the Caspian Sea. The intent is to engage on the application of best practices to monitor and improve control of pollution and explore leveraging of companies’ compliance monitoring of oil and gas industry operations. During project implementation, each country will convene at one national roundtable, followed by participation in one regional roundtable. (For more information on this Component 1 and the planned technical support for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, see ESMF, pp. 10-15).
Component 2: Strengthening biodiversity planning (estimated cost: GEF $4.25 million).
The project will focus on well-known keystone species, the Caspian seal and sturgeons, as beacons for advocacy and rationale for protected areas management with the aim of bringing demonstrated successes to scale post-project. Each country has documented and addressed biodiversity challenges in different ways over time, with discontinuous investment and coordination in data collection and sharing of information and analysis on the common resources. For example, the Caspian seal population abundance of today is a rough estimate, and without a functioning protocol for monitoring seals and other keystone species, the population cannot be effectively managed at the national or regional level. The project will go beyond recommendation for monitoring to actual reporting on the status of the Caspian seal population in the three countries.
The project will apply the phased approach to protected areas management, which includes “conceptualisation” with biophysical and socioeconomic assessments to confirm protected area boundaries, “establishment” through drafting and enacting required legislation and regulations, and “management” by training personnel and providing selected equipment. (For more information on Component 2 and the planned technical support for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, see ESMF, pp. 15-19).
Component 3: Project coordination, monitoring and evaluation (estimated cost: GEF $0.84 million, including $0.44 million for project management and $0.40 million in United Nations Office for Project Services overhead).
This component will ensure overall coordination of the implementation of the project activities. Coordination functions include project activity planning, procurement of technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation of the project results, production of progress reports, management of Environmental and Social Framework compliance, including the establishment of the Grievance Redress Mechanism. The detailed procedures for project coordination, monitoring and evaluation will be described in the Project Operations Manual. The Project Implementation Unit will be housed at United Nations Office for Project Services office in Vienna, Austria, and will comprise professional, administrative, and support staff.
On April 13, 2026, the World Bank Board of Directors approved the project financing plan (within its authority) for three project components in the total amount of $8.24 million.
Author: N.R. Shumeyko, head of Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency.
In the photo: Caspian seal haul-outs on ice in the northeastern Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan. Still from the scientific and educational film “Caspian Seal”. NCOC N.V., 2023.