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Russia’s Environmental Legacy

Russia’s Environmental Legacy. Collapse of the Soviet Union. Serious mismanagement natural resources and a failure to stop pollution during the Soviet era (strong industrial output, with little regard for environmental protection.

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Russia’s Environmental Legacy

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  1. Russia’s Environmental Legacy

  2. Collapse of the Soviet Union • Serious mismanagement natural resources and a failure to stop pollution during the Soviet era (strong industrial output, with little regard for environmental protection. • Pollution and environmental degradation was seen as cost for modernization and industrialization. • 1991, the Soviet Union breaks up, sparking regional conflict and economic hardship. • Today, serious environmental degradation affects all parts of the region. Post-Soviet transition to market economy has fueled the problem, regulations ignored or circumvented.

  3. Environmental Problems • Overcutting of forests • Overuse of pesticides • Heavy pollution (rivers, lakes)- acid rain and soil erosion • Serious levels of air pollution in industrial towns and cities • “Arctic Haze” • Diversion of rivers in irrigation schemes to boost agriculture productivity- depletion of water resources, desertification, soil erosion • Radioactivity- nuclear energy and military nuclear capability

  4. Lake Baykal • Deepest lake in the world (5,300 ft), 20% of all fresh water • 2500 recorded plant and animal species (75% CAN BE FOUND NO WHERER ELSE) • “The Pearl of Siberia” • Since the 1960s, increasing levels of pollution were carried to the lake by rivers that flow into it- ag. Chemicals, human and industrial waste. • Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill- 40 yrs., 1 billion tons of waste • Triggered the birth Russia’s environmental movement. Closed in 1986, but SU collapsed • World Heritage Site

  5. Aral Sea • Soviet Unions modernization programs large scale irrigation schemes to desert regions in central areas • Kara-Kum Canal (478 miles) irrigates, from Amu Dar’ya, 4.7 million acres in Turkmenistan… excessive withdrawals of sources that drain into the Aral Sea • Has shrunk by more than 40%, and continues to shrink, level has dropped by 33 ft, • Dry lake beds contribute to respiratory ailment and decimated fishing industries

  6. Taiga • Intensified concern over forest resource management, rate of clearing… 1/5 of the world’s timber • “slash for cash” logging operations • Significant percentage of world’s forests • Absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide

  7. Nuclear Legacy • 1991 Collapse: Nuclear warheads, ballistic missiles, poorly constructed and maintained nuclear power stations, and decaying nuclear waste dumps threaten the regions people and environment…. • World leaders were concerned about the fate of the region nuclear programs (now 15 separate nations): who is in control, where are they located, how well are they protected, and what will become of the nuclear scientists?

  8. Consequences of Collapse • Political tensions: security of material uncertain • 2000 report U.S. task force- possibility of stolen or misused materials most urgent threat • Economic health: fear of shutting down plant b/c of the cost to rebuild or use more expensive sources. Also, Russia has become the world’s nuclear waste dump (Switzerland, Germany, France, S. Korea, Japan) • Environmental Prospects: December 2000, Ukraine shut down Chernobyl and international partnership

  9. Chernobyl • Chernobyl plant is located in Ukraine, 80 mi. form Kiev • Once employed 9,200 ppl. • April 26, 1986, poorly planned safety experiment led to an explosion, which was made worse by the faulty reactor design • World’s worst civilian nuclear accident • Contaminated 100,000 sq. mi. (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus) • Evacuated and resettled 250,000 ppl • Continued to produce until Dec. 2000, • $300 billion (estimated cost of the disaster • Showed that the regions nuclear reactors were poorly built and managed

  10. Chernobyl & Radioactivity • Radioactive cloud eventually spread over entire Northern Hemisphere • Hundreds of thousands of workers helped in clean up operations (liquidators), many were exposed to radiation • Health problems have increased dramatically in children (thyroid cancer) • Radiation particles entered the soil, the vegetation, the people, and rivers contaminating the entire food chain. • Secondary radiation continues to be a problem

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