Pollution problems in the region

Before its demise (1991), the Kremlin declared 3.5 million km2 were so polluted as to be a risk to human health. It was a result of the lack of pollution control policies. Currently, there is still a remain of the lack of wastewater treatment, and consequently, the rivers have been damaged during years, to the point of not supporting aquatic life.

Also the growing of vegetables and fruits has been resulting a problem because of the bad quality of the soil and water that makes them to be toxic.

Air pollution

Even the emissions of air pollutants have been decreasing during the last decades in the region, they are still too high. Such gases are ozone, nitrogen dioxide and many others, and usually bring with serious health risks to the inhabitants. For instance, the exposition to ozone also involves crop damaging, seriously affecting the agricultural areas of the region.

The sources of air pollution are the burning of fossil fuels in many fields such as electricity generation, transport industry and households. Also industrial processes are a source of pollution, some agriculture practices and waste treatment.

For instance, in this map, we can see the premature mortality (expressed as deaths per 10,000 inhabitants/year) attributable to PM2.5 exposure at year 2005 pollution levels. PM2.5, also called particulate matter is a mixture of solids and liquid droplets floating in the air. We can mainly find it in the cities. As the map shows clearly in the countries with information, Eastern Europe is highly affected.

By the 2030, some of the most-air-polluted cities included in a list elaborated by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis are expected to be Krakow and Warsaw (Poland) or Pleven and Sofia (Bulgaria).

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/armine-sahakyan/the-grim-pollution-pictur_b_9266764.html

http://www.airclim.org/acidnews/2010/AN2-10/particles-killing-half-million

Soil and water pollution

Sewage, factory discharge and poorly stored toxic waste have contaminated soil and ground water in many regions. However, the main zones affected by industrial devastation are those following Central Europe's coal and steel belt, across northern Czech Republic and Slovakia to southern Poland.

In the maps, we can see the variety of water pollution levels, during certain periods of time all over the world. We can clearly observe that the Eastern Europe region has evolved positively, reducing the levels, despite the fact that they are into the most affected regions.

References:

http://factsanddetails.com/russia/Nature_Science_Animals/sub9_8c/entry-5064.html http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/quality.shtml

Nuclear pollution

The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine changed significantly the environment features of Eastern Europe. The lack of security sense needed was completely related with the Cold War isolation. Besides the dozens of lives that it took in the immediate hours, the radiation is still present, and its effects are expected to last still for some decades. By the 2000s, miles of people were diagnosed to have diseases related to the radiation. However, it is still to see which will be the effects in long-term, the most feared for the medical community.

In 2003, the IAEA, together with the UN, and the Belarus, Russian and Ukraine governments established the Chernobyl Forum in order to coordinate environment and health recovery of the región.

Since 2010, the areas dismantled in 1986 and early after have been being resettled in Belarus, with the main objective of recovering agriculture and forestry, and also attracting qualified people and housing them.

However, in 2011 Chernobyl was officially declared a tourist attraction, with actually many visitors.

References:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx