Environmentalists report that the Caspian Sea level is dropping by approximately 70 centimetres each year. According to the international Save the Caspian Sea movement, in some areas of Kazakhstan the shoreline has already receded by 18 kilometres.
As reported by Informburo.kz, experts are drawing parallels with the dried-up Aral Sea, emphasising that inaction could result in the loss of the water body.
According to Galina Chernova, co-founder of the Save the Caspian Sea movement, research predicts a large-scale shallowing of the Caspian Sea.
"It will turn not even into a swamp, but into a dried-up territory. The sea will retreat inward to the Middle Caspian, as far as the Buzachi Peninsula; from Azerbaijan's side it will be at the level of the Absheron Peninsula; some areas of the Southern Caspian, including the Iranian coast, will become shallower; and off the coast of Turkmenistan, the shoreline will be exposed," she said.
Environmentalists claim that the main threats remain the falling water level and pollution. In their view, responsibility for this lies not only with Kazakhstan but also with other Caspian littoral states, as well as transnational corporations involved in oil extraction.
Movement members assert that companies' initial promises of 'zero pollution' of the sea have not been fulfilled. Every year, carcasses of dead Caspian seals are found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and instances of mass bird die-offs are recorded.
"As for pollution, it is, of course, industrial activity in the Caspian. Oil extraction, discharge of wastewater. In just one generation, we have lost the sturgeon. If in the 1990s caviar and fish were affordable in price, today it is a luxury for the wealthiest people," said Vadim Ni, co-founder of the Save the Caspian Sea movement.
As environmentalists noted, there is no unified programme for saving the Caspian Sea. In the Atyrau and Mangystau regions, only regional projects are in operation.
"We compared the shoreline from 2006 to 2024, and that line has shifted by approximately 15 to 30 kilometres since then. We do not see any concrete actions that would halt the problem that has now caught up with us," stated Daulet Yesmagambetov, Director of the Department of Environmental Culture and Policy at the Ministry of Ecology.
The Ministry announced plans to establish a scientific institute to study and address the problem. However, according to experts, time is running out, and international agreements have yet to yield tangible results.
Earlier, it was reported that mass animal deaths had already been recorded on the coast of the Caspian Sea in the Mangystau region. At the beginning of July this year, a mass fish die-off was recorded on the Caspian coast in the region. In the same area, dead animals were repeatedly found: on 1 May — the remains of 88 seals; on 9 May — dozens of dead seals and birds; and at the end of May, in the area of Fort Shevchenko, 117 dead seals were discovered over two days.
Environmentalists and residents of the region link some of these incidents to the activities of oil-extracting companies, one of which is the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) international consortium.