About Us

Following series of symposia and specialised workshops and recommendations of a multidisciplinary pool of experts, an International Working Group (IWG) on the Sustainable Development of the Caspian Sea Region - CASPISNET (Caspian Integrated Scientific Network) was incepted in May 2018.  As a landlocked water body; thus, a sensitive climatic indicator, with resources shared amongst several countries, trans-disciplinary studies and new invaluable knowledge can give more insights into the study of other landlocked lakes in Europe and another part of the world. In particular, its petroleum resources play a key political role as its exploitation and exploration depend, to a large extent, on environmental factors such as the rate of water level change. 

Within latter framework, a multidisciplinary group of scientists from the region Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan were joined by experts from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States on 13th May 2018 in a special meeting initiated by the Institute of Geography of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences during an international conference  “Understanding The Problems of Inland Waters: Case Study for The Caspian Sea” held at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, 12-14 May 2018.

The IWG CASPISNET aims to develop a decision-making support system at the regional level by pulling national resources towards data analysis while developing an early warning system at the disposal of policy formulators while developing a training framework for regional professionals. While connecting global and local dynamics of change to the United Nations2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the CASPISNET also aims to bridge practice-informed environmental and anthropogenic hazards and risk assessments to regional policy formulation for the Caspian basin.

The main objective of IWG has been to take stock of the state of the Caspian Sea region sustainability, projecting the Caspian region pivotal role as a laboratory towards global dynamics of change and exchange best sound practices and sustainability strategies in line with the idea of establishing the IWG - Caspian Integrated Scientific Network (CASPISNET)Agenda 2030 and the implementation of the SDGs.