TABLE 5.1. Emissions of Major Atmospheric Pollutants (in Millions of Metric Tonnes per Year) CO NOx Hydrocarbons SO 2 U.S.S.R. (1988) a 14.9 4.5 8.5 17.6 United States (1985) b 170 26 27 23 Russia (2004) c 17.3 3.1 3.1 5 United States (2005) d 93 19 18 15 Note. The Russia (2004) data only include official data on industrial and automobile emissions; the actual totals are probably about 20% higher because of underreporting. CO, carbon monoxide; NOx, nitrous oxide; SO 2, sulfur dioxide. a Data from Pryde (1991). b Data from Progress in Reducing National Air Pollutant Emissions 1970 2015, by the Foundation for Clean Air Progress (www.cleanairprogress.org), and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. c Data from Annual Report on the Status of the Russian Environment, by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, 2004 (www.mnr.gov.ru). d Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
FIGURE 5.1. Total industrial air pollution from stationary sources in Russia, in thousands of metric tonnes per year. Data from Federal Service of State Statistics, Russian Federation (www.gks.ru).
FIGURE 5.2. The smokestacks of the Yuzhnaya power station in Moscow, as seen from the beltway. Twenty such plants surround the city and provide both electricity and hot water to millions of customers. Increasing car traffic more than offsets any gains produced by cleaner central power production, however. Photo: Author.
FIGURE 5.3. The Obskoe reservoir on the Ob River in Novosibirsk attracts swimmers during the short summer. Despite heavy industry, the Ob is only moderately polluted here, given its enormous size and the availability of pollution control devices at most factories. Photo: P. Safonov.
1977 1989 2006 FIGURE 5.4. The Aral Sea on June 4, 1977, September 17, 1989, and May 27, 2006. Landsat imagery courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and U.S. Geological Survey (public domain).
FIGURE 1. The Novobibeevo forestry camp for middle and high school village children in Siberia, organized by SibEcocenter, Novosibirsk, in 2006. The campers spent 1 week of training in forestry, ecology, and sustainability. They collected plastic trash from nearby woods and practiced minimalimpact camping with leave-no-trace techniques. Photo: Author.
TABLE 5.2. Selected Examples of Endangered Wildlife Species from the Red Data Book of Russia Species How many remain? Where in Russia? Main threat(s)? Mammals Baltic nerpa seal A few thousand Baltic Sea coast Poaching, sea pollution Russian desman 50,000 European rivers Habitat alteration, pollution Dahurian hedgehog Unknown Steppe, Far East Habitat alteration Snow leopard A few hundred Altay, Sayans Poaching Birds Steller s sea eagle 2,000 3,000 Pacific, Kamchatka Hunting, tourism Black stork Unknown Throughout taiga Deforestation, natural rarity Blackiston s fish owl About 500 Southern part of Far East Loss of old- growth forests Short-toed creeper unknown Caucasus Natural rarity
(A) Cat. I Cat. II Cat. III Cat. IV Cat. V Cat. VI Cat. VII Total area protected = 1,816,735 km 2 (8.22% of all land area) (B) Cat. I Cat. II Cat. III Cat. IV Cat. V Cat. VI Cat. VII Total area protected = 4,552,905 km 2 (20.79% of all land area) FIGURE 5.5. International Union for the Conservation of Nature categories of federally protected natural areas in (a) Northern Eurasia and (b) North America: I strictly defined nature reserves (e.g., zapovedniks) in a and wilderness areas in b; II national parks; III natural monuments; IV habitat and species management areas (e.g., zakazniks in a and wildlife refuges in b); V protected landscapes; VI managed resource protected areas (e.g., national forests in b); VII all other areas. North America has more protected land, mainly because of its national forests and a huge preserve in Greenland. Data from the United Nations List of Protected Areas (2003).
FIGURE 5.6. Environmental pollution in Northern Eurasia. Map: J. Torguson.