The Caspian Sea has attracted the attention of scientists, environmentalists, legal scholars and policymakers for a variety of reasons: scientists and policymakers are concerned about the sharp increase in the Caspian Sea level (>2.5 m in 20 years). The rising waters have inundated coastal areas, including buildings, settlements, transportation infrastructure, and farmlands in each of the five countries that border the sea. The Caspian Sea is also rich in resources such as fisheries and hydrocarbons. The caviar of the Caspian sturgeon is a highly valued export commodity, but the fishery is at risk from the rising sea level, pollution and oil spills. The oil reserves of the region are second in size only to the Persian Gulf. Only recently the Caspian was shared by two sovereign nations: the Soviet Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran. With the breakup of the USSR in 1991, three additional sovereign riparian States were added to the Caspian coastline: Azerbaijan, Kazakstan and Turkmenistan. International oil politics have become more complicated and more intense since the breakup, raising such international legal issues as the legal status of the sea (or is it a lake?) and its overland pipelines across different countries to sea ports with access to world markets. Problems in other semi-enclosed bodies of water are also discussed, since such seas share similar environmental problems and potential solutions.

On behalf of the Russian Federation Committee on Water Economy, I would like to welcome the participants of the NATO-sponsored Workshop on the Problems of the Caspian Sea and the Circum-Caspian States. The world's largest intercontinental sea/lake is well known for its wealth mineral and fuel resources and sturgeon stocks' the products of which (oil and caviar) are in constant demand on the world market. During the last half-century the Caspian Sea has been the focus of the scientific community concerned with its level fluctuations. We were, and still are, solving a two-faceted issue: to rescue the Caspian Sea and to rescue the population from the Caspian Sea. To rescue the Caspian Sea is to address a broad spectrum of environmental issues related primarily to water pollution by waste water and petroleum products. To rescue the population from the Caspian Sea means that an almost 2.5 m sea level rise in the last two decades has resulted in flooding of vast coastal areas deteriorating economic and social spheres of activity. Solutions to these issues are linked to the numerous mysterious aspects of recent Caspian Sea behavior. Regrettably, the collapse of the USSR has led to a decline of marine observations and control over the use of marine resources in the region. Coordinated international action on the protection of living marine resources have terminated, generating disastrous consequences.