Assessing socio-economic and natural vulnerability to oil spills: a case study of Azerbaijan’s Caspian shoreline

Abstract

This study addresses the environmental and socio-economic impacts of oil spills on the Caspian shoreline. Proactive ecological management must include diverse static and dynamic information to measure pollution’s environmental and human impacts. This study develops a hybrid environmental sensitivity index (ESI) map for Azerbaijan’s coast, integrating biological, socio-economic, and physical sensitivity data with historical risk measures. The ESI assists local and national managers to plan and improve response readiness to oil spills. The approach could also be applied across all Caspian littoral states, where increasing oil activities heighten risks in vulnerable areas.