{"id":139038,"date":"2025-04-14T07:58:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T04:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/news\/toxic-dust-and-stressed-seals-what-the-shrinking-caspian-sea-could-mean-for-people-and-nature\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T07:58:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T04:58:35","slug":"toxic-dust-and-stressed-seals-what-the-shrinking-caspian-sea-could-mean-for-people-and-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/news\/toxic-dust-and-stressed-seals-what-the-shrinking-caspian-sea-could-mean-for-people-and-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Toxic dust and stressed seals: What the shrinking Caspian Sea could mean for people and nature"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <p>You are unauthorized to view this page.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-login-form-wrap\">\n            \n<div class=\"mp_wrapper mp_login_form\">\n                  <!-- mp-login-form-start -->     <form name=\"mepr_loginform\" id=\"mepr_loginform\" class=\"mepr-form\" action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/\" method=\"post\" data-trp-original-action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/\">\n            <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_username\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n                              <label for=\"user_login\">Username<\/label>\n        <\/div>\n        <input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" value=\"\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_password\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n          <label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n          <div class=\"mp-hide-pw\">\n            <input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" value=\"\" \/>\n            <button type=\"button\" class=\"button mp-hide-pw hide-if-no-js\" data-toggle=\"0\" aria-label=\"Show password\">\n              <span class=\"dashicons dashicons-visibility\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n            <\/button>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n            <div>\n        <label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n      <div class=\"submit\">\n        <input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button-primary mepr-share-button\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139038\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_process_login_form\" value=\"true\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_is_login_page\" value=\"false\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n    <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"trp-form-language\" value=\"en\"\/><\/form>\n    <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n    <div class=\"mepr-login-actions\">\n        <a\n          href=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/?action=forgot_password\"\n          title=\"Click here to reset your password\"\n        >\n          Forgot Password        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n      \n    <!-- mp-login-form-end --> \n  <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart_content_wrapper\">\n<p>An area larger than Iceland is likely to dry up, even if the climate \u2018only\u2019 warms up by 2C. Here\u2019s what that means in the Central Asian region. The world\u2019s largest landlocked water body is shrinking at a rate that could critically endanger an iconic seal species, put coastal communities at risk and release toxic dust, new research reveals.<\/p>\n<p>Water levels in the Caspian Sea &#8211; which is bordered by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan &#8211; are falling as rising temperatures mean more water is evaporating than flowing in. Even if global warming is limited to below 2\u00b0C, it is likely that the Caspian Sea will drop by 5 to 10 m, shaving 112,000 km\u00b2 off its current size of 387,000 km\u00b2. Left unchecked, climate change could see water levels drop by as much as 21 m by 2100.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers at the UK\u2019s University of Leeds have now mapped what that means for the region\u2019s biodiversity and human infrastructure. With many of the Caspian Sea\u2019s most important areas located in shallow water, they say that urgent action is required to protect species and coastal communities.<\/p>\n<p><em>The animals that depend on the Caspian Sea staying big<\/em><br \/>\nCaspian seals are found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea, where they have adapted to wide swings in temperature. Between January and March, the seals give birth to their white-coated pups on the ice in the northern Caspian Sea. But even a 5m decline could reduce the area of this habitat by up to 81 per cent, according to the new study, putting huge pressure on an already reduced population.<\/p>\n<p>The Caspian seal was listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008, due to a wide range of stressors, including oil and gas drilling, shipping, and the already evident signs of habitat alteration from climate change. The shrinking sea will also make the seals\u2019 haul-out sites &#8211; areas where they rest on land &#8211; inaccessible. Though receding water levels may create some new islands, it is not yet known if they will be suitable alternatives. The diminutive seals are the obvious \u2018poster children\u2019 of the Caspian Sea\u2019s plight, but many other species are threatened by its retreat, and the environmental impacts are far-reaching.<\/p>\n<p>The Caspian Basin was once home to the world&#8217;s most diverse array of sturgeons, an ancient family of large fish. All five Caspian sturgeon species which spawn in rivers are critically endangered due to overfishing for their meat and caviar. Now, the shallower parts of the sea that sturgeons inhabit in summer and autumn are facing a potential reduction in size of up to 45 per cent, which may stop the fish reaching their spawning sites in the Volga, Ural and other inflowing rivers.<\/p>\n<p>The Caspian Sea is also a globally important habitat for birds migrating between Europe, Asia and Africa. These birds rely on coastal lagoons and reed beds for resting, shelter and food during their migrations, but such habitats are vulnerable to loss as waters recede. In total, a 10m decline in water levels would wipe out four out of 10 ecosystem types unique to the Caspian Sea. Marine protected zones, safeguarded for their biodiversity, would almost completely vanish &#8211; except for a very small amount of water in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/green\/2025\/04\/11\/toxic-dust-and-stressed-seals-what-the-shrinking-caspian-sea-could-mean-for-people-and-nat\">Euronews Green<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/environmental-news-en\/toxic-dust-and-stressed-seals-what-the-shrinking-caspian-sea-could-mean-for-people-and-nature\/\">Toxic dust and stressed seals: What the shrinking Caspian Sea could mean for people and nature<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\">Vastuullisuusuutiset.fi<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[7053,575,18541],"class_list":["post-139038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-caspian-sea","tag-environmental-news-en","tag-people-and-nature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}