Over a thousand dead seals wash up on shore just a few miles from Cop29 climate summit

One cardinal seals erstwhile lived successful the Caspian Sea, adjacent Cop29, astir 100 years agone but contiguous little than 10 per cent stay with the taxon facing imaginable extinction

Over a 1000 dormant seals person washed up dormant on the seashore conscionable respective miles from wherever the UN's Cop29 clime acme is taking place.

Seals were erstwhile a communal show on the waterfront successful Baku Bay. But they person since disappeared. Of the cardinal that erstwhile inhabited the Caspian Sea a period ago, less than 10 per cent remain, leaving the taxon teetering connected the brink of extinction.

This ecological catastrophe is taking spot conscionable a fewer miles from wherever world leaders gathered for Cop29, the UN’s Climate Summit, presently taking spot successful the Azerbaijani capital. In the past fewer weeks 1,034 dormant seals were recovered washed up connected the shores of the Caspian.

The origin of decease is chartless arsenic tests are inactive underway. But Asel Baimukanova, a specializer astatine the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology, said much than fractional of the females were pregnant, adding: “The deaths were seemingly unnatural and sudden.”

Another wide die-off occurred successful 2000 erstwhile a strain of canine distemper microorganism was believed to person been liable for the decease of tens of thousands of seals. The species, present connected an endangered reddish list, has been struggling since over-hunting for their fur and blubber successful the erstwhile period caused the colonisation to plummet by 70%.

Recent threats see getting caught successful amerciable sportfishing nets acceptable for poaching sturgeon for their roe – amended known arsenic caviar – a luxury bully that tin outgo up to £300 per 100g. But present the clime situation is besides threatening their survival. Not lone is it causing the wintertime oversea crystal to reduce, making it harder for newborn pups to survive, planetary heating is causing the Caspian Sea to disappear.

It is presently the world’s largest lake. However, with the rivers that provender it drying up, little rainfall and a hotter climate, this captious country for quality – which supports galore endemic and migratory taxon including thousands of flamingos – is shrinking astatine an unprecedented complaint and measures conscionable 4 metres heavy successful immoderate places.

It is presently losing 23.3cm a twelvemonth resulting successful a authorities of exigency being called implicit the critically debased levels of this important sea. Growing h2o extraction with caller dams and ample reservoirs is besides having an interaction too.

Its diminution is peculiarly concerning, fixed the destiny of the adjacent Aral Sea successful cardinal Asia, which was erstwhile the world’s fourth-largest water but is present hardly disposable connected outer images. Ironically, the Caspian basin besides sits connected important lipid and earthy state deposits.

While these fossil fuels are an important root of income for Azerbaijan, the greenhouse gases they emit are lone exacerbating the lake’s troubles. Will hosting the Cop29 acme assistance prevention the Caspian?

Unfortunately, the petrostate is acceptable to ramp up fossil substance accumulation implicit the adjacent decennary and its situation curate has been secretly filmed agreeing to facilitate caller deals astatine the conference.

But arsenic Azerbaijan tin spot the Caspian retreat earlier its eyes and the iconic seal taxon perish, this should beryllium the wake-up telephone that the clime situation they are truthful brazenly fuelling is besides destroying their precise ain backyard.