Crimea's Environment: Exploited Under Soviets, Neglected During Transition

by V.A. Bokov & photos by Schelene Smith

Crimea's environmental problems are rooted in a complex set of issues. Economic inefficiency in accounting for natural resource use, combined with the Soviet focus on increasing the gross national product and achieving industrial and military targets at any cost, resulted in low industrial and agricultural efficiency, antiquated technologies, the absence of effective environmental regulation and significant pollution.

Adding to these challenges, Crimea has a high concentration of defense-related industry, and much of its land has been controlled by the military. Crimea also had an unjustifiably high concentration of chemical plants and water-intensive industries such as irrigation agriculture and chemical production. Meanwhile, the tourism industry is poorly developed, although it is the alternative that best meets the region's economic and environmental needs.

Black Sea Pollution

An issue of particular urgency for the Crimean peninsula is pollution of the waters that surround it. The Black Sea is polluted to a depth of 200 meters by hydrogen sulfide. It also suffers from poor water circulation, limiting the ability of its ecosystem to self-regulate.

The shoreline waters of the Black Sea are polluted with urban and agricultural waste. Insufficiently treated sewage water is pumped into the sea just a short distance from the shore. In a process called upwelling, polluted water rises from the depths to the surface. During the summers, the waters around cities are highly polluted with phenols, petroleum products and synthetic substances.

Bacterial pollution often exceeds norms by ten to 15 times. The sea suffers from oxygen deficiency, algae blooms and the asphyxiation of aquatic life. Jetties were built in order to combat erosion, but unfortunately are the least environmentally friendly way to accomplish this. Because jetties prevent active water circulation, they contribute to the deterioration of shoreline waters. Environmentally friendly methods for protecting the shoreline, already developed by specialists in the region, urgently need to be applied.

Agriculture

Agriculture has had enormous negative impact on Crimea's environment. Cultivating large areas of land of low or average fertility demanded large expenditures of energy. Significant amounts of fertilizer and insecticides were used, but these technologies were poorly applied so that about half of the fertilizer was not absorbed by plants and wound up in surface and ground waters. The construction of the Northern Crimea Canal, begun in the 1970s, brought irrigation to about 400,000 hectares of land. But the design of the canal lacked basic environmental protection measures such as lined walls. This, in conjunction with overwatering, has led to a rise in ground water over a large area. In addition, the quality of large amounts of agricultural land has worsened over the past decades due to the decline in the humus content, secondary salinization and alkalization.

About half of the water channeled from the Dnieper River for irrigation is lost. Drainage water is put into the Sivash [a system of small bays along the western edge of the Sea of Azov], leading to the salinization of this unique body of water, and into the Karkipitskii Bay, polluting both bodies of water. The quality of the water channeled through the canal is poor, which affects both the quality of agricultural products grown on the irrigated land and the quality of drinking water used by the residents of Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Feodosiya and many other cities.

Industry

Industrial usage has created or exacerbated many environmental problems. Geological engineering has led to the appearance of sinkholes throughout the peninsula, as well as erosion and avalanches. Because environmental protection norms have not been properly observed, 40 percent of the land in the Crimea suffers from water and wind erosion.

Most of Crimea's cities, including well-known tourist centers such as Yalta, Gurzuf and Saki, suffer from high air pollution from vehicle exhaust. Cities such as Armyansk, Krasnoperekopok and Saki also suffer from air pollution from chemical plants. Mining is a source of additional pollutants. Many open-pit mines operate in the Crimean mountains to extract construction materials. These mines are destroying air and water quality, as well as the area's natural beauty.

Tourism

The region depends on forested mountain areas for the beauty and air quality of its tourist destinations. Unfortunately, the condition of these areas has declined over recent decades for a variety of reasons. Beechwood and hornbeen forests in the Crimean mountains are on the very edge of their geographical zone of existence, and even minor human activity can disrupt the natural functioning of these forest ecosystems. Despite this, recreational usage of the forests has increased, although it has been estimated that only 10 percent of the total area of the forests should be used for recreational purposes if the forests and their environmental benefits are to be preserved.

Careless tourists exacerbate the forest fire danger presented by the region's dry climate. For many years, the authorities have banned tourists from the forests for much of the year because of the damage they cause the environment, but individual tourists ignore the ban. The system for protecting and controlling recreational usage of mountainous forest areas must be restructured by creating a Crimean National Nature Park.

Effects of Transition

While the problems described above result largely from Soviet-era abuses of the land, the transition to a new system of political, economic and social relations has worsened rather than improved the environmental situation in the Crimea. Paradoxically, the decline in industrial production has not lead to a corresponding decline in air and water pollution. The number of users of natural resources has increased sharply, and most of them feel no responsibility to use the resources with a view to the future. Meanwhile, the environmental regulatory systems created in Soviet times have become even less effective in current conditions. The regulatory system is subordinate to the local government and cannot oppose the government's decisions, which are often aimed at achieving short-term economic results. Environmental regulation agencies are funded at a very low level, and for a variety of reasons these agencies are not always able to oppose criminal groups that illegally use natural resources.

Unfortunately, many government officials at the regional and local level are not interested in strictly enforcing environmental protection laws, since they are able to enrich themselves by overlooking offenses. There is no influential social force interested in ensuring enforcement of environmental protection laws: neither the authorities, nor businessmen, nor the average citizen, who is simply trying to earn enough to get by.

The return of ethnic groups deported during the Soviet era poses additional difficulties because it is unregulated and accompanied by anti-environmental actions such as settling on land in protected areas, cutting down forests or illegally extracting construction materials.

With the change in economic structure, land in the most valuable recreation areas, in protected water areas, in buffer zones around nature parks and even within nature parks is being acquired for personal usage, often at symbolic prices. The beaches along the Crimea's South Bank are an example of this. Given the lack of financing, park protection is very weak, and many parks may lose their ability to serve as nature preserves.

There is also a great danger from the expansion of oil and gas extraction and the construction of oil terminals without serious environmental impact studies and the inclusion of the public in the discussion of these issues.

Many of these challenges resemble those faced elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, with specifics shaped by the region's natural resources, its geopolitical position and its historical development. As Crimea struggles to rebuild its economy, no doubt the pressure to exploit its environment will continue to mount.

V.A. Bokov is a professor and head of the Department of Ecology and Recreation of the Crimean Academy of Sciences. He holds a doctorate in geography. Translated by Andrew Reese.