Representatives of the five Caspian Sea littoral states are expected to finalize and sign documents on protecting the Caspian Sea at the seventh Conference of the Parties to the Tehran Convention (COP7) in Tehran.

Axar.az reports, citing Iran’s IRNA news agency, that the documents cover issues including the declining water level of the Caspian Sea, environmental monitoring, regional protection of the Caspian seal and biodiversity.

Ahmad Reza Lahijanzadeh, Iran’s deputy environment minister for marine and wetlands affairs, said the Caspian Sea faced challenges including climate change, declining water levels, pollution caused by human activities, pressure on biological resources and the destruction of coastal habitats.

“The Caspian Sea is not merely a shared body of water between five countries, but an interconnected environmental, economic and social system whose health and sustainability are linked to the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, unique biodiversity, coastal wetlands, inflowing rivers, valuable aquatic resources and important species such as sturgeon,” Lahijanzadeh said.

He also stressed the need to move from discussions to practical measures, saying: “Effective protection of this valuable body of water requires strengthening mutual trust, continuous exchange of knowledge and data, developing joint monitoring and, most importantly, turning regional commitments and agreements into practical, specific and measurable actions.”

Turkmenistan’s Deputy Environment Minister Nury Jemashov also called for faster action on environmental issues affecting the Caspian Sea.

“We believe development should be in harmony with the environment, not the other way around. Given climate change and the decline in the Caspian Sea level, we need to move quickly from the stage of assessment to the stage of action, and the capacity for cooperation among the countries must be expanded,” Jemashov said.

The five member states of the Tehran Convention are Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. The ministerial-level COP7 meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, following several days of technical discussions.

It should be noted that the interim secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran Convention) is currently administered by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Geneva, Switzerland. During the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7), held in Tehran from September 20 to 23, 2026, Iran assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Convention for the next term.