REGIONAL AFFAIRS Tehran Convention / COP-2 Protecting the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea

* The author is employed at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for Europe. The paper is presented by the author in her personal capacity, however, and opinions expressed in this paper should be attributed to the author. They are not meant to represent the positions or opinions of UNEP or the State Parties to the Framework Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea. The second meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-2) to the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran Convention) was held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, from 10–12 November 2008.1 The meeting was attended by representatives of the five Contracting Parties to the Tehran Convention, as well as by observers from intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations including the United Nations Development Programme, the European Commission, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Maritime Organization, the Black Sea Com mission and the Caspian Environment Programme (CEP). The general political and economic situation in the region and ongoing negotiations on the legal status of the Caspian Sea influenced to a large extent the atmosphere of the meeting. However, the consensus-building approach developed under the CEP umbrella allowed for the reversing of the trend and after strenuous discussions the meeting succeeded in achieving its main objectives. The agenda included the following items: (i) adoption of the Strategic Convention Action Programme (SCAP), the Programme of Work and Budget; (ii) development of priority Protocols to the Tehran Convention and other possible ancillary documents, including in the area of conservation and rational use of the aquatic resources; (iii) the Convention’s permanent Secretariat arrangements. The agenda was shaped by the provisions of the Ministerial Statement and the decisions of the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-1), Baku, Azerbaijan, 23–25 May 2007, by the Programme of Work for the period June 2007–May 2008, and by the requirements of the Tehran Convention itself. This report provides an overview of the main results of the meeting. Strategic Convention Action Programme If COP-1 could be seen as the “institutional setting” meeting, COP-2 was more focused on the operational side with a view to creating tools for, and starting, the effective and coherent implementation of the Tehran Convention. The main result of the COP-2 was the adoption of the SCAP as the ten-year strategic framework and agenda for action. Article 18 of the Convention stipulates that the Caspian States cooperate in the formulation of the Action Plan for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the