D. J. Peterson - Troubled Lands The Legacy Of Soviet Environmental Destruction

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TROUBLED LANDS

Troubled Lands

The Legacy of Soviet Environmental Destruction

DJ Peterson
A RAND Research Study

First published 1993 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1993 by RAND

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peterson, D. J.
Troubled lands: the legacy of Soviet environmental destruction /
by D. J. Peterson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-1673-1.ISBN 0-8133-1674-X(pbk.)
1. PollutionEnvironmental aspectsSoviet Union.
2. Environmental policySoviet UnionCitizen participation.
I. Title
HC340.P55.P47 1993
363.7'00947dc20 92-30796
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-21212-4 (hbk)

Contents

1. xix
2. xx

Guide

1. Tables
2. Figures
3. Maps
   1. The former Soviet Union

Among the most disturbing revelations resulting from glasnost are widespread reports of environmental damage inflicted throughout the former Soviet Union during 70 years of communist rule. Although the reports have often been sketchy and sensationalized, what emerges is a portrait of a Soviet regime willing to sacrifice the well-being of the environment and the health of the citizenry in its quest for military and economic might.

The nuclear calamity epitomized by Chernobyl helped drag the system down. This and other environmental assaults on ancestral home-lands not only fueled the fires of activism but also spurred an ethnic revival that ultimately contributed to the Soviet collapse. Now that the USSR is gone, the newly independent successor states must deal with a legacy of destruction; and as they pursue their economic goals, one wonders whether the region may not be poised for a second onslaught on nature.

In this book, DJ Peterson draws upon his travels to the capitals and provinces of the affected regions, where he interviewed officials of both the new and old governments and was given access to data heretofore unavailable. He vividly describes the overwhelming environmental problems facing the successor states: air and water pollution, degradation of land resources, and inadequate management of solid and hazardous wastes. He records and analyzes the responses of governmental actors, industry, the military, and grass-roots environmental organizations in those regions. Finally, he reflects on the roles and responsibilities of the advanced industrialized nations in mitigating problems with potentially widespread international ramifications.

Troubled Lands gives readers a wide-angle lens through which to view the struggles of newly reconstituted countries working in parallel to fundamentally redirect social and political institutions and to build stable market economies that incorporate responsible environmental policies. Beyond that, these chapters also function as case studies with important lessons for other nations around the worldthe United States among themthat aspire to achieve the delicate balance between economic prosperity and environmental responsibility.

James A. Thomson
President and Chief Executive Officer

RAND
Santa Monica, California

Eco-glasnost and events in the political, economic, and environmental spheres since the late 1980s have radically altered the state of affairs in the former Soviet Union and what we in the West know about them. The material presented in this book is based primarily on recent Soviet sources and reflects the development of eco-glasnost in the post-Chernobyl era. This official information was supplemented with a wide variety of evidence from regional and central newspapers, popular and academic journals, wire service reports, radio broadcasts, television reports, and personal interviews.

discusses the constraints and opportunities with which these actors will be presented as they seek to transform their economies in the post-Soviet era.

As noted here and throughout the book, environmental researchers in the former Soviet Union suffer chronic difficulties in data collection and analysis. Indeed, as the volume and sources of new information have exploded under eco-glasnost, reliability of data and testing has grown more problematic. Accordingly, I acknowledge that this book is vulnerable to the weaknesses of the source material, particularly secondary references, and thus I have noted inconsistencies and have made clarifications where possible. Being relatively new to the arena of international cooperation, officials in the former Soviet Union have not yet focused their energies on making their data collection and analysis methodologies conform with international standards and practices. To compensate as much as possible for this state of affairs, I have, when the data permit, drawn simple analogies and comparisons to conditions elsewhere in the world in an effort to give the reader a baseline for conclusions. It must be kept in mind, however, that these comparisons are but rough approximations.

In this book, measurements are provided in metric terms. The following conversion factors are provided for common equivalents:

To convert from:	To:	Multiply by:
hectares	miles, square	0.004
hectares	kilometers, square	0.01
hectares	acres	2.471
kilograms	pounds	2.679
kilometers	miles	0.621
kilometers, cubic	meters, cubic	1x109
kilometers, cubic	acre-feet	811,030
kilometers, square	miles, square	0.386
kilometers, square	acres	247
meters, cubic	feet, cubic	35.323
meters, cubic	gallons	264
tons, metric	tons, short	0.907

Because this book focuses exclusively on the territory of the former Soviet Union, the temptation is to view the environmental issues discussed as a uniquely Soviet phenomenon. Indeed, this view is reinforced by the statements of local commentators themselves, who, unfamiliar with affairs abroad because of decades of physical and intellectual isolation, frequently paint conditions inside the former Soviet Union as strikingly unique or severe. However, when one takes a step back and places the situation within a global context or relates it to conditions in other regionsadvanced industrial or developingwhat becomes eminently clear is that the challenges citizens of the new states are or will be confronting often are similar to challenges elsewhere in the world. Some conditions in the ex-Soviet republics truly are exceptional, but a preoccupation with hyperbole arid exceptionalism will only blind us to their commonality with problems closer to home.

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