IS IT A SEA OR IS IT A LAKE?

摘要

Andreas Dracoulis and Rahul Kumar, Haynes and Boone CDG, UK, assess the legal status of the Caspian Sea and how its littoral states will be impacted following recent and future agreements. In August 2018, the signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea (the 'Convention') brought some long-overdue agreement to a dispute which has been ongoing for over 20 years. At approximately 143 000 km~2, the Caspian Sea - which is bordered by Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (the states') - is the largest body of landlocked water in the world, It is known to be very rich in resources, with current estimates indicating approximately 50 billion bbls of oil and over 8 trillion m~3 of natural gas beneath its seabed. Additionally, the Caspian Sea is renowned for its population of sturgeon, from which over 80% of the world's caviar is sourced.