Angelina V. Antipova, Larisa S. Mokrushina, Boris I. Kochurov
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences
109017 Moscow, Staromonetny pereulok, 29
RUSSIA
TEL: (095) 238-91-21
FAX: (095) 230-20-90
An unfavorable and, in some regions, even a very acute ecological situationhas developed at the present time in Russia and the territories of countriesof the C.I.S. Many regions appear to be zones of elevated danger and greatecological risk where the probability that an acute ecological situation willdevelop is very high.
In sum, on the territory of the former USSR more than 300 areas with anextremely unfavorable ecological situation, occupying approximately 4 millionsquare kilometers or 18% of the total territory of the country, stand out. Inthe last 20 years the size of areas with an extremely unfavorable ecologicalsituation has increased by 2 million square kilometers. In degree ofacuteness, six categories of ecological situations are designated:catastrophic, crisis, critical, tense, conflictual, and conditionallyfavorable.
In mapping, 39 regions of the greatest ecological unfavorability stand out, ofwhich approximately 20 are in a crisis or catastrophic situation: the zone ofthe Chernobyl accident, the Aral Sea and its surroundings, Kolsky Island, theDnepropetrovsk-Kivorovsky industrial region, the Donbass, Moldova, theoffshore and seaside zones of the Black and Azov seas, the Moscow region,Kalmykia, Northern Prikaspy, Central Povolzhe, the Ural industrial zone, theoil and gas extraction regions of Northwestern Siberia, the Norilsk industrialzone, Kuzbass, Priangare, the Fergana valley, the Ust-Kamenogorsky industrialregion, Balkhash, and Baikal.
The areas of the most acute ecological situations coincide with the mostsettled and most fertile part of the territory, and the appearance of acuteecological situations is characterized by a certain regularity in theircoincidence with natural zones.
Translated by Barbara Welling Hall
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