| Abstract | The Caspian, surrounded by the five littoral countries, is the largest land-locked body of water on earth. The isolation of the Caspian basin, its climatic and salinity gradients, have created a unique ecological system. Today the Caspian faces significant environmental problems. Overfishing, discharging wastewater and exploration and production of gas and oil among others put great pressure on this unique ecosystem and many Caspian biota are threatened by over-exploitation, habitat destruction and pollution. The objectives of the project are:
- To initiate and establish a co-operative Caspian Sea, trans-national Scientific Network of environmental data & information centres/services within the Caspian Sea countries.
- Development and establishment of a Caspian Scientific Information System, for Environmental Data & Information Management, based on a telematic solution (World Wide Web Technologies - Internet -)
A closer collaboration on transnational (Caspian Sea) scale is essential to achieve a more adequate transnational approach to Environmental Administration and Management. A first step in this direction is bringing together representatives of many relevant environmental institutions, serving the scientific community in the field of environmental (data & information) administration and management, within a Scientific Network. Bringing together these scientists on a regular basis will stimulate and improve the scientific trans-national co-operation and (environment issues related) data & information exchange.
Moreover, full access to high quality, up-to-date environmental, economic and social (Meta) data and information, is essential for supporting the scientific network. Interchangeability and Accessibility of data & information are of great importance
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