Abstract: Ecological and economic characteristics of the Far East. What environmental problems is the Russian Far East experiencing? Environmental problems of distant

It is proposed to introduce a special regime of state administration on the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD), reports Kommersant newspaper. This follows from the draft regulations on the Ministry for the Development of the Far East, sent for approval to the government on June 1, which the publication was able to familiarize itself with. The agency, whose head is appointed as the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Minister Viktor Ishaev, intends to limit or completely cancel the interference of other federal bodies in the affairs of the Far Eastern Federal District.

Experts from our Center have already discussed a bill on the creation of a state corporation for the development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Now we present to you our vision of the main problems of the Far Eastern region (described in more detail in the monograph “The National Idea of Russia”, chapter “Territorial Integrity”)

Problems of the Far East

The Far East is the region farthest from the capital and historical center of the country. This fact alone creates quite serious problems, given the size of the state. In Soviet times, a lot of effort was made to develop the Far East - increasing population density, developing infrastructure, building naval bases, and developing resources. As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the Far East found itself in a very vulnerable situation: the local Russian population began to leave the region, industry degraded, and there was an acute shortage of jobs.

At the same time, the birth rate continues to rise in neighboring Japan and China, and the economy is developing rapidly. These states are experiencing serious economic and environmental problems due to extreme overpopulation, while next door there is a huge and practically uninhabited territory rich in natural resources.

It is also important that Japan has territorial claims to Russia, and in China there is growing dissatisfaction with the borders drawn by the tsarist government in the 19th century.

Due to its geographical location and economic situation in the country, the Far East exists under a number of negative factors. These are, first of all, difficult, including extreme natural and climatic conditions, poor development and remoteness of the region from industrially developed areas of the country, impassability, instability and outflow of population. In this situation, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the BAM play a large role, although now the Baikal-Amur Railway, the construction of which required huge government capital investments and was carried out by all the republics of the former USSR, is less loadedthan half of its carrying capacity.

One of the main limiting factors is the existing structure of the national economy. The ineffective sectoral structure of the economy, in which the share of extractive industries in the volume of production is 30%, and specialization industries (fishing, non-ferrous metallurgy, forestry) with backward technologies and equipment - more than 50%, causes an extremely unfavorable situation right now, during the transition to market economy relations in the economy.

This creates numerous additional environmental problems.

The chronic underdevelopment of the production infrastructure, primarily transport and energy, was reflected and complemented by the difficult situation in the industries of specialization. The gold mining industry is in a depressed state, where, due to a sharp reduction in allocations, geological exploration work is being curtailed, there is a massive departure of workers from enterprises and a significant drop in production in its main regions - the Magadan region and Yakutia.

It was not possible to stabilize the situation in the fuel and energy complex. A significant number of enterprises in Transbaikalia and the Far East operate under severe restrictions on the supply of energy resources due to a lack of financial resources to pay for them. An extremely difficult situation has developed in the mining industry, which is aggravated by the lagging growth of proven reserves of mineral raw materials and a sharp decrease in the pace of geological exploration. Essentially, the process of reproduction of the region's mineral resource potential has been disrupted. The forestry and fishing industry complexes are in a state of crisis.

The decline in production, chronic insolvency, and inflationary processes had a catastrophic impact on the financial position of enterprises. All this has a particularly painful impact on the Far Eastern territories with resource specialization, where, due to the weak investment opportunities of enterprises, the main burden of financing production, infrastructure and social programs falls on the federal and regional budgets. But local governments, of course, cannot cope with the huge number of problems that exist in the region, including environmental ones.

The most difficult living conditions, the raw material orientation of the economy, the high capital intensity of economic development of the territory and increased transport costs due to geographical remoteness in modern, dramatically changed conditions put the region at a deliberate disadvantage.

Given the independence of producers and the poor practice of contractual relations, food shortages to the Far East have become chronic. At the same time, the share of local food production does not exceed 30% of needs.

Weak support for farming, and sometimes simply a lack of food, forces the population to engage in poaching. Poaching is rampant in the Far East, causing significant damage to the environment. Due to the general crisis in the country, most enterprises in the 1990s. stood idle, while others did not work at full capacity, which, however, slightly improved the environment. But the consequences of the same crisis (the spread of poaching, the difficult social situation of the population, etc.) are making it worse. Many diseases are spreading: for example, Vladivostok has one of the highest rates of cancer.

So, the Russian Far East is in a rather precarious position and requires special attention from the federal center. Otherwise, Russia geopolitically risks losing this region and, accordingly, losing access to the Pacific Ocean, which means losing its last hopes of being reborn as a superpower.

Ecological problems

Many of the Far East's environmental problems are related to the economic problems described above. The general state of the environment in the Far East is characterized by unbalanced environmental management in almost all regions.

Sometimes the nature of inter-resource connections, aggravated by the low stability of ecosystems, extremely complicates, and sometimes completely eliminates, the exploitation of several resources simultaneously in one territory. For example, the development of placer deposits and the extraction of red fish, the development of the chemical industry in coastal areas and the creation of mariculture plantations on the shelf, etc. These examples are typical for the Far Eastern region, since seas and rivers are very important for it.

Many enterprises associated with the mining and chemical industries discharge their waste directly into wastewater, which becomes the main source of sea pollution. Moreover, the shelf of the Far Eastern seas, and especially the southern coastal one, is the most favorable of all the water areas of our country for the cultivation of mariculture.

Almost all beaches of the Ussuri and Amur bays are polluted with heavy metals. The equipment of the Far Eastern ports with treatment facilities is extremely unsatisfactory, so oil seeps into the beach areas.

Serious pollution occurs due to morally and physically outdated equipment. Currently, about 70% of the fishing industry fleet of the Far Eastern basin is completing its standard service life. There are many decommissioned and abandoned sea vessels in the bays of the Far East. Outdated and overcrowded naval bases store large amounts of radioactive waste.

In the Far East, virgin forests - the main wealth of the region - are illegally cut down, and the wood, when it enters a body of water, releases highly toxic phenolic compounds.

Environmental problems in the Far East also include forest fires, the consequences of typhoons and earthquakes, floods, oil tanker wrecks, accidents at oil and gas fields and other industrial facilities. It should be noted that only 75% of sites can be reclaimed.

The emergence of some additional environmental problems is now inevitable due to the economic crisis, but further environmental degradation will only worsen the overall crisis, and will primarily affect the population and non-renewable resources.

Extensive, exhaustive use of natural resources has undermined the self-reproduction potential of renewable natural resources and, along with the development of environmentally harmful industries, has led to the emergence of potential sources of social tension.

Political situation

In September 2007, the second Far Eastern International Economic Forum was held in Khabarovsk. 19 delegations from constituent entities of the Russian Federation and 16 delegations from foreign countries took part in the forum. The subject of discussion was the economic development of Siberia and the Far East. However, after several years, no radical changes in the situation occurred.

Due to the growing understanding that Russia's pressing problems are not being solved, there is an increase in protest sentiments in the country. The Far East plays a special role in this. Traditionally, along with the Kaliningrad region, this region, as the most remote from Moscow and experiencing fundamental economic problems, is a mouthpiece of protest sentiments.

The fact that in the event of nationwide protests, for natural reasons, starts in the Far East is also of symbolic significance.

At the same time, the authorities demonstrate complete disregard for the opinions of the region’s residents. Moreover, it uses armed violence against civilians.

A striking example is the demonstrative action staged by the Moscow, Khabarovsk and Dagestan riot police in Vladivostok at the end of 2008, when riot police brutally dispersed people who gathered for a protest against the increase in duties on foreign cars.

An important problem is the uncertainty in relations with the largest power in the region - China. Russian-Chinese relations are broad and diverse. SteadilyTrade turnover between both countries is growing. China is Russia's largest trading partner, and military cooperation is also developing. A huge number of Chinese specialists and students are studying at Russian universities.

Still, it would be a stretch to talk about a strategic partnership between the two countries. China and Russia, despite the coincidence or similarity of positions on a wide range of issues, do not have a coordinated position even on the situation arising in the common geostrategic space - within the SCO. There is also no program for long-term economic cooperation.

The main drawback of bilateral relations is the lack of trust in each other among the elites of both countries. Pro-Western liberal propaganda in Russia has spent a lot of effort creating an enemy image out of the Chinese, emphasizing the problem of the “yellow threat.” The Russian mass media, engaged by Western and domestic oligarchs, have long been introducing into the consciousness of Russians the myth of the malicious Chinese seeking to “sneak in” to seize the Far East and Siberia.

Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book “The Great Chessboard” unequivocally spoke about the desirability of partnership with the PRC at the expense of a weak and doomed Russia, and even proposed paying the Chinese for loyalty with part of the Russian territory - the Amur region and Primorye. It is possible that similar proposals were made in behind-the-scenes conversations between American diplomats and some Chinese leaders.

At the same time, objective logic suggests that cooperation with Russia is more profitable for China than cooperation with the United States. Russian energy resources and high technologies (of course, provided that the degradation of the scientific and industrial potential of the Russian Federation is overcome) can serve the Chinese economy better than American securities.

Demographic situation and Chinese immigration

One of the main demographic characteristics of the Far East is its small population compared to its area (36.4% of the area of the Russian Federation). In this regard, starting from the 19th century. The government of tsarist Russia attracted the population there to raise virgin soil and create infrastructure. The Soviet government attracted people to the Far East with high wages and better living conditions. However, after the collapse of the USSR, state support ceased, and the region lost its attractiveness to the population.

If in 1991 the population of the Far East was 8 million people (5.4% of the total population of the Russian Federation), then by January 1, 2004, there were already only 6.6 million people in the region (4.62% of the total population of the Russian Federation) .According to the results of the 2010 census - 6.3 million people.

Before the collapse of the USSR, the Chinese border territories of the northeast of the PRC were very poor. After the abolition of barter in 1996, in order to boost the economy in these regions, the State Council of the People's Republic of China decided to make part of the border cities of the northeast and northwest free economic zones, in the manner of Chinese coastal cities (Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc.) .

Cross-border trade companies were created in China's free economic zones. Gradually, cross-border trading companies, taking advantage of the imperfections of Russian legislation, ousted their Russian partners from the market and, having opened their own branches on the Russian side, began to trade with themselves.

Labor shortages in sectors of the economy that require manual labor-intensive work became noticeable in the Far East back in the 1980s. Having learned about the hard work of the Chinese, their unpretentiousness to living conditions, and their agreement to low wages, employers began to prefer Chinese labor to guest workers from the CIS countries. INwhy the Chinese workforce currently dominates the workforce from other countries in the Far Eastern region.

In addition, serious problems in the region are crime, smuggling, large-scale exports of cash currency and the plunder of the resources of the Far East. As for products imported from China, high levels of pesticides and nitrates are often found in products imported to Russia from China.

Economic features

With the beginning of economic reform in the Russian Federation, foreign trade in the Far East received an impetus for intensive growth. If in the pre-reform period the average annual growth rate of exports was about 5%, then in the post-reform period it exceeded 17%. At the same time, as the reform progressed, foreign trade began to acquire a special significance that was not typical for it before.

In the context of a sharp reduction in centralized funding for the economic development of the Far East, as well as a colossal increase in transport costs, which led to a decrease in the competitiveness of Far Eastern products in the country’s domestic market, foreign trade has become a factor of survival.

The transition to an open economy that emerged with the collapse of the USSR, along with a sharp change in Russia’s geopolitical position, noticeably increased the role of border regions with a high share of the mining industry in the country’s foreign trade cooperation, thereby predetermining changes in the territorial structure of Russia’s foreign economic relations. One of such regions is the Far Eastern economic region, as evidenced by the positive dynamics of the share of its exports in the total volume of Russian exports.

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Thus, the situation in the Far East requires prompt government intervention and the adoption of measures in a number of areas. These are economics, politics, administrative management, migration policy, ecology, demography, transport policy, energy supply, etc.

Otherwise, Russia with a high degree of probability may lose this region in the medium term, especially since neighboring states are showing increasing interest in it - primarily Japan and China, as well as the United States of America and transnational corporations.

First of all, it is necessary to radically correct the economic situation in order to stop the outflow of population from the region, as well as to take measures aimed at improving the demographic situation. It is necessary to tighten control over Chinese immigration in the Far East, ensure more reliable transport connections between the region and Siberia and the rest of the country, and create attractive conditions for small and medium-sized businesses.

Until now, the significant recreational potential of the Far East has been practically not used. The environmental and sanitary situation in the region requires urgent measures, since the region is experiencing a general decline in life expectancy and deteriorating health of the population.

Ecological and economic characteristics of the Far East

Introduction.

The Far East is a concept that includes all regions in the eastern part of Eurasia. But I would like to consider only the territory of Russia. In the future, by the words “Far East” I will mean only its Russian part.

The Far Eastern economic region includes: Primorsky and Khabarovsk (with the Jewish Autonomous Region) territories, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Amur, Kamchatka (with the Koryak Autonomous Okrug), Magadan (with the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) and Sakhalin regions. “The territory of the Far East stretches along the Pacific coast for 4,500 km, its area is 6.2 million km. (36% of the country’s area).”

The Far East is washed by the seas of the Pacific basin - Bering, Okhotsk, Japan, forming a large sea basin of Russia. All these seas are deep. The seas are separated from the Pacific Ocean by a chain of islands: the Aleutian, Kuril, and Japanese.

The specifics of the natural conditions of the Far Eastern region are determined by its geographical location at the junction of the two largest structures on the globe - the Pacific Ocean and the Eurasian continent.

So, the Far Eastern region is very different from other Russian regions. Let us consider this specificity in more detail; in particular, it is largely determined by climate.

Climate of the Far East.

The special climate and special organization of production in the Far East is evidenced by the fact that “... the experience accumulated in the western regions of the USSR, which consists in using standard average climate characteristics when planning and managing various sectors of the national economy, is not acceptable for the Far East.”

The peculiarities of the physical and geographical position of the Far Eastern region determined the diversity of natural and climatic conditions - from the sharply continental to the monsoon climate of the southeast of the region, which caused uneven settlement and development of the region. If the northern part of the Bering Sea is in a subarctic climate, then the southern part of the Japanese Sea lies in the subtropical region.

The climate of the entire Far East is determined by the interaction of continental and maritime air masses of temperate latitudes. In winter, cold air flows from the powerful Asian High to the southeast. Therefore, winter in the Far East is very harsh and dry. In the northeast, along the edge of the Aleutian Low, the cold continental air of Eastern Siberia interacts with warm sea air. As a result, cyclones often occur, which are associated with large amounts of precipitation. There is a lot of snow in Kamchatka, and snowstorms are common. On the eastern coast of the peninsula, the height of the snow cover in some places can reach 6 m. Snowfalls are also significant on Sakhalin.

In summer, air currents rush from the Pacific Ocean. Marine air masses interact with continental ones, as a result of which monsoon rains occur throughout the Far East in summer. The monsoon climate of the Far East covers the Amur region and Primorsky Krai. As a result, the largest Far Eastern river, the Amur and its tributaries, overflow not in the spring, but in the summer, which usually leads to catastrophic floods. Destructive typhoons coming from the southern seas often sweep over coastal areas. But at the same time, warm, although very short, summers allow the development of open-ground farming.

“In the south of the region, the sum of temperatures above 10°C is 2200-2400°, the duration of the growing season is 5-6 months, the average precipitation is 500-600 mm, in winter – 120-170 mm, the average January temperature is from –15 to –18°C . To the north these conditions worsen, but still they seem quite realistic for agriculture.

...If we ignore the average indicators and consider the real conditions of the growing season in the Far East, then they partly correspond to the conditions of the more northern regions of the USSR, rather than the black earth and non-black earth centers located at the same latitude.”

I would like to note once again that in the Far Eastern region the organization of production is needed not the same as in the western regions of Russia, but taking into account the climatic characteristics of the Far East.

Hydrological characteristics. Hydrological resources of the Far East.

A special feature of the Far Eastern region is its rivers, and taking into account the characteristics of these rivers greatly influences the pollution of the region and the general environmental situation in it.

The rivers of the Far East are fed by rain, so their hydrological regime is unstable, which complicates agriculture. Summer showers lead to floods, while the winter period is characterized by low water flows and freezing of rivers. The latter factors cause oxygen deficiency in winter river waters, which practically reduces their ability to self-purify to zero.

“The length of the Far Eastern rivers, excluding the Amur, Kolyma and Anadyr system, is small: less than a hundred kilometers, occasionally 100-200 km, which is 15-20 times less than the length of the rivers in the western regions of our country.” This also greatly reduces the possibility of self-purification of rivers and increases the risk of transmission of pollution from river waters to the waters of the Far Eastern and East Antarctic shelves.

The hydrographic network of the region is very extensive and rich in water. Among the largest are the basins of the Lena, Amur, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma, etc. “Rivers concentrate huge reserves of hydropower, are rich in valuable species of fish, and serve as transport routes, including in winter, when winter roads are laid on the ice. The region is also rich in thermal waters. Hot springs, especially in Kamchatka, feed rivers that do not freeze in winter.” But most rivers, of course, freeze in winter. The origin of geysers is associated with volcanic activity. The water of hot springs contains zinc, antimony, arsenic, has medicinal value and opens up great opportunities for creating a resort base.

The Pacific seas - Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese - are very important for the economy of the region. “Freezing for a relatively short period, they are of fishing, hunting and transport importance. The world’s largest salmon stocks are concentrated here: chum salmon, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, seals, walruses, and fur seals live.”

Population, human resources.

Due to the severity of the climate and the remoteness of the territory, the Republic of Sakha and the Magadan region are very sparsely populated. The development of these areas is of a focal nature. The Khabarovsk Territory and the Amur Region are more densely populated.

In the 20th century In the sparsely populated Far East, the population began to grow rapidly due to the development of industrial production in the Far East. “In 1980, the population of the Far East was 7 million people.”

The increase in population occurred due to both natural and mechanical growth, mainly by attracting labor resources to large construction projects, mainly from populous European regions.

“Currently the population of the Far East is more than 7.6 million people. The urban population is 76%. The Far East is the most sparsely populated region of the Russian Federation. Its average population density is 1.2 people per 1 sq. km. Throughout the region, the population is distributed extremely unevenly, which is partly due to the difference in climate in the north and south of the region. The highest density is more than 12 people per 1 square. km. in Primorsky Krai.” The southern part of Sakhalin is quite densely populated. At the same time, in the Republic of Sakha, Magadan and Kamchatka regions, “the population density is only 0.3 - 0.8 people per 1 sq. km.”

Recently, the decline in the standard of living of the population and the general situation of instability have significantly affected the demographic situation. “Since 1993 There is an unsatisfactory situation in natural population growth. In 1993 in the Far East there were more deaths than births by 17.6 thousand people in 1994. - by 20.8 thousand people and for the first half of 1995 - by 11.2 thousand people.”

It is also very important to note that the imperfect infrastructure of settlements necessitates improving its adaptability to local natural conditions from an environmental point of view.

Natural resource potential of the Far Eastern region.

The Far East has the richest forest and animal resources. Forests in the Far East cover about 260 million hectares of the region.

Most of Kamchatka is occupied by sparse forests of stone birch and larch, and thickets of dwarf cedar with alder and lichens grow on the mountain slopes. Northern Sakhalin is characterized by sparse larch forests, and Southern Sakhalin is characterized by impenetrable thickets of bamboo and spruce-fir taiga on the Kuril Islands, in Primorye and the Amur region, where the summers are warm and humid, and coniferous-broad-leaved forests grow.

Seals, seals, and beluga whales have commercial value in the Far Eastern seas. Crab fishing is carried out off the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. In the Amur region and Primorye there are northern and southern species of animals. Siberian species such as reindeer, elk, sable, squirrel, and southern species such as the Amur tiger, sika deer, black bear, and raccoon dog live here. The Kuril Islands are characterized by seals, fur seals and sea otters.

The fish resources of the Far Eastern seas are diverse. The most important fishing areas are the waters of Kamchatka, the Okhotsk coast, the Amur Estuary, the coasts of Southern Sakhalin and Primorye. In first place in importance are the migratory salmon fish - chum salmon, pink salmon, sockeye salmon, and chinook salmon. They go to spawn in the Amur, in the rivers of the Okhotsk coast, Kamchatka and Sakhalin.

The Far East is distinguished by the production of non-ferrous metals, diamonds, mica, fish and seafood production, timber and pulp and paper industries, ship repair and fur fishing. In agricultural production, the Far Eastern region specializes in soybean cultivation and reindeer husbandry. All sectors of market specialization are based on the use of local natural resources. The Far East plays an important role in Russia's maritime and foreign trade relations. The Far East exports coal, timber, furs, fish, etc.

Mineral reserves are of great importance for the development of the region. There are large reserves of iron ore, coal (more than 15 billion tons), oil (9.6 billion tons), natural gas (14 trillion cubic meters), timber and hydraulic resources. Within a 200-mile zone, the region has sea and ocean waters with an area of 1.5 million sq. km. According to forecast estimates, the subsoil of the shelf of the Far Eastern seas contains 29 billion tons of hydrocarbons. Over 60% of Russia's fish and seafood is produced in the Far East.

Ores of non-ferrous metals and rare metals are of interregional importance. This is one of the most important gold-bearing regions of Russia. Deposits of ore and placer gold are concentrated in the Kolyma, Aldan, Zeya, Amur, Selemdzha, Bureya basins, in Chukotka and on the slopes of the Sikhote-Alin. Tin, tungsten, lead-zinc ores are discovered and developed in the Republic of Sakha, Magadan region, in the spurs of the Sikhote-Alin. The Far East has large reserves of mercury. The main deposits are located in Chukotka, Yakutia and Khabarovsk Territory. Unique mica deposits have been explored in Tommot on the upper Aldan. The diamond deposits in the north-west of the Republic of Sakha are of great importance - “Mir”, “Udachnoe”, etc.

Iron ore reserves are known in the Far Eastern region. The Aldan iron ore basin with the Taezhnoe, Pionerskoye, and Sivaglinskoye deposits, located in the south of Yakutia, is of greatest importance.

The Far East also has large reserves of fuel resources, especially hard and brown coal. However, large coal reserves are located in the Lena Basin, which is very remote from the developed territories. In the south of the Sakha Republic there is one of the most promising coking coal basins - the South Yakutsk. The remaining deposits, relatively small, are scattered throughout the region.

Oil and gas bearing provinces have been identified in the region: in Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Chukotka, and the Magadan region, but so far only the Okha and Tungor oil fields in the north of Sakhalin are being developed. The oil is of high quality, but it is not enough to meet the needs of the region. Gas was discovered in the Leno-Vilyui oil and gas province. This is one of the most important promising gas-bearing areas.

The Far East also has reserves of nonmetallic raw materials: marl, limestone, refractory clay, quartz sand, as well as sulfur, graphite, and mica.

General ecological and economic characteristics of the region.

The territory occupied by the Far Eastern economic region, the Chita region and the Republic of Buryatia constitutes “almost 40% of the area of Russia with a population of about 7% and industrial production up to 6%.”

Let us highlight the features of the Far Eastern region. There are two most important factors that determine the position of the Far East in the system of Russian regions. First of all, the special economic and geographical position of the region. It is characterized by remoteness from the main, most populated and developed regions of the country, as well as outskirts and limited contacts with its only neighbor - Eastern Siberia.

The second factor is powerful resource potential. This gives it the opportunity to occupy an important place in the country’s economy in a number of raw materials positions. So the region produces: “98% of diamonds, tin – 80%, boron raw materials – 90%, gold – 50%, tungsten – 15%, fish and seafood – more than 40%, wood – 13%, cellulose – 7%.”

The border location and ice-free sea ports create favorable conditions for cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur railways form the basis for international transit traffic.

The Far Eastern South is much more favorable for economic development than the North. About 30% of the area of the entire region is home to 80% of its inhabitants. The north, on the contrary, is distinguished by its harsh nature and sparse population. The development of valuable mineral resources is the main specialization of the region, which determines its place in the Russian economy.

In the southern regions, industry has become more developed, in particular manufacturing, the core of which is the military-industrial complex. There are more favorable conditions for agricultural development here. The northern and northeastern territories specialize in the development of raw materials, mainly mining industries. The coal mining industry is very important for the energy complex of the region, but now its situation is deteriorating and in addition it is a very powerful source of the environment. Along the BAM, the prerequisites have been created for the formation of a new industrial zone, the economic development of which is important both for the adjacent territories and for the entire country.

Along with the listed favorable economic and geographical conditions, the Far East and Transbaikalia are also under pressure from negative factors. These are, first of all, difficult, including extreme natural and climatic conditions, poor development and remoteness of the region from industrially developed areas of the country, inaccessibility of most of the territory, impassability, instability and outflow of population. In this situation, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the BAM play a big role; although now the Baikal-Amur Railway, the construction of which required huge government capital investments and was carried out by all the republics of the former USSR, is currently loaded at less than half of its carrying capacity.

One of the main limiting factors is the existing structure of the national economy. The ineffective sectoral structure of the economy, in which “the share of extractive industries in the volume of production is 30%, and specialization industries (fishing, non-ferrous metallurgy, forestry), with backward technologies and equipment, is more than 50%”, causes an extremely unfavorable situation right now, during the transition period to market relations in the economy. It also creates numerous additional environmental problems.

The chronic underdevelopment of the production infrastructure, primarily transport and energy, was reflected and complemented by the difficult situation in the industries of specialization.

The gold mining industry is in a depressed state, where, due to a sharp reduction in allocations, geological exploration work is being curtailed, there is a massive departure of workers from enterprises and a significant drop in production in its main regions - the Magadan region and Yakutia.

It was not possible to stabilize the situation in the fuel and energy complex. A significant number of enterprises in Transbaikalia and the Far East operated under severe restrictions on the supply of energy resources due to a lack of financial resources to pay for them. An extremely difficult situation has developed in the mining industry, which is aggravated by the lagging growth of proven reserves of mineral raw materials and a sharp decrease in the pace of geological exploration. The process of reproduction of the region's mineral resource potential is essentially disrupted. The forestry and fishing industry complexes are in a state of crisis.

The decline in production, chronic insolvency, and inflationary processes had a catastrophic impact on the financial position of enterprises. During 1994 and the first half of 1995, the industry of the Far East had the highest comparative indicators of unprofitability in comparison with the volume of industrial production.

This situation has a particularly painful impact on the Far Eastern territories with resource specialization, where, due to the weak investment opportunities of enterprises, the main burden of financing production, infrastructure and social programs falls on the federal and regional budgets. But local governments, of course, cannot cope with the huge number of problems that exist in the region, including environmental ones.

The most difficult living conditions, the raw materials orientation of the economy, the high capital intensity of economic development of the territory and increased transport costs due to its geographical remoteness in modern, dramatically changed conditions put the region at a deliberate disadvantage. Now, given the independence of producers and the lack of established contractual relations, food shortages to the Far East have become chronic. At the same time, “the share of local food production does not exceed 30% of needs.”

Little support for farms, sometimes simply a lack of food, forces the population to become poachers. Poaching can be said to be rampant in the Far East, which causes significant damage to the environment.

As we see, due to the general crisis in the country, most enterprises are idle, while others are not operating at full capacity, which in general, of course, slightly improves the state of the environment. But the consequences of the same crisis (the spread of poaching, the difficult social situation of the population, etc.) are worsening it. Many diseases are spreading, for example, Vladivostok has one of the highest rates of cancer.

Recently, there has been an increase in the electric power industry (from 3.5% in 1991 to 14% in 1994) and non-ferrous metallurgy (from 19.4% to 30%, respectively). This trend comes amid sharper declines in other industries. But if the increase in the share of non-ferrous metallurgy should be considered a positive phenomenon, then the increase in the share of the electric power industry indicates an increase in the energy intensity of production. Unfortunately, this trend continues to the detriment, of course, of the environment.

One of the serious problems in the resource-producing region remains the non-integrated use of natural resources, which is expressed in the fact that only the most accessible and high-quality mineral deposits that require the least cost of extraction and processing are developed. However, this ultimately leads to increased costs for further operation. For different objects, this excess ranges from 35 to 85%. For example, in the extraction of fuel for the needs of industry and the population, efforts are now being made in three directions: the shelf of Sakhalin Island, the development of oil and gas fields of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the completion of the construction of large coal mines (Urgalsky, Erkovetsky, Luchegorsky, etc.), the construction of relatively inexpensive coal mines in small deposits.

One of the main conditions for stabilizing the integrated energy system "Vostok" and reducing the supply of solid fuel to the region is the completion of the construction of the Bureyskaya hydroelectric station as one of the main conditions for stabilizing the integrated energy system "Vostok" and reducing the supply of solid fuel to the region. Thus, the Bureyskaya HPP will be very profitable economically, but environmental factors are also important here, of course.

Environmental problems of the Far Eastern region.

Many of the Far East's environmental problems are related to the economic ones just described.

The general state of the environment in the Far East is characterized by an imbalance in environmental management in almost all regions, that is, a violation of the correspondence of the development and location of material production, population settlement and the ecological capacity of the territories.

The unique spatiotemporal variability of natural conditions, especially the hydraulic regime, and the widespread development of seasonal and permafrost determine the significantly lower stability of Far Eastern ecosystems relative to the western regions of Russia, and this instability increases from south to north, which can be seen at least in the example of climate. And sometimes the nature of inter-resource connections, aggravated by the low stability of ecosystems, extremely complicates, and sometimes completely eliminates, the exploitation of several resources simultaneously in one territory. For example, the development of placer deposits and the extraction of red fish, the development of the chemical industry in coastal areas and the creation of mariculture plantations on the shelf, etc.

These examples are typical for the Far Eastern region, since seas and rivers are very important for the Far East. Many enterprises associated with the mining and chemical industries discharge their waste directly into wastewater. Nowadays, in many places, a method of combating river water pollution is used, based on the ability of rivers to self-purify. (Meanwhile, in the hydrological characteristics of the Far East it was shown that the ability of the Far Eastern rivers to self-purify is low due to the peculiarities of the hydraulic regime, oxygen deficiency and the short length of the rivers). So, this method consists of calculating the necessary dilution of wastewater and the degree of purification to meet MPC standards. But the “dilution” method, naturally, is not suitable, as it will lead to pollution of shelf waters and poisoning of seafood with heavy metals. Data on the anthropogenic load on coastal marine areas indicate that the main sources of sea pollution are wastewater (including household wastewater and wastewater from industrial enterprises).

This leads to sad consequences, since in connection with the introduction by many states of a 200-mile economic zone, the biological resources of the Far Eastern seas are becoming especially important in providing the country’s industry and population with seafood. Moreover, the shelves of the Far Eastern seas, and especially the southern coastal seas, are the most favorable of all the water areas of our country for the cultivation of mariculture.

Almost all the beaches of the Ussuri and Amur bays are polluted with heavy metals, which, in terms of their danger of impact on living organisms, are second only to pesticides, according to employees of the Institute of Marine Technology Problems, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Of the pollutants entering coastal waters, the most dangerous in terms of volume and harmfulness are oil-containing waters - losses of oil-containing products during storage in ports, wastewater from shipbuilding and ship repair plants, thermal power plants and boiler houses operating on liquid fuel. The Far Eastern ports are poorly equipped with treatment facilities, so oil leaks into the beach areas. A significant part of the solid sediment from pollution consists of hydroxides and salts of transition metals, as well as oxides of silicon, aluminum, salts of alkali and alkaline earth metals.

A lot of pollution occurs due to morally and physically outdated equipment. Currently, “about 70% of the fishing industry fleet in the Far Eastern basin is reaching its standard service life.” In the bays of the Far East there are many decommissioned and abandoned sea vessels. Large quantities of liquid and solid radioactive waste are stored in outdated and overcrowded naval bases. Conventional ships and nuclear submarines withdrawn from the fleet due to lack of funding are not disposed of.

In the Far East, virgin forests, the main wealth of the Far East, are being illegally cut down. At the same time, there is also a lot of waste from the forestry industry; for example, in the form of highly toxic phenolic compounds released by wood and entering water bodies.

The current activities of mining enterprises are very harmful to the environment. In some places there is even a danger of such disasters as environmental poisoning with cyanide and acid waste. One of the most complex industries in terms of impact on the environment is the coal industry. The main areas of negative impact are: pollution of ground and surface waters, disruption of the hydrological regime; air pollution; disturbance of lands, their contamination with waste from coal and oil shale mining and processing. The most specific components of wastewater from coal enterprises are: suspended substances, petroleum products, mineral salts, salts of heavy metals, organic compounds; phenols, surfactants, microelements, etc. are less typical. In 1994, the Primorsky Territory in terms of volumes of discharges of contaminated wastewater into natural water bodies exceeded the figure of 32.6 million m3. Elimination of the environmental consequences of mining industry activities in the fields of the Far East is carried out through the construction of treatment facilities for mine and quarry waters containing difficult-to-settle dispersed suspension, increasing the efficiency of existing structures and land reclamation.

Based on the above, we see that the creation of some environmental problems is now inevitable due to the economic crisis. There is no money to eliminate these problems, everything goes to the development of production, while in many places an extensive development method is used, the most resource-intensive. But it is also clear that further environmental degradation will only worsen the overall crisis, and will primarily hit the population, potential labor force, and non-renewable resources.

Nevertheless, some enterprises pay great attention to the environmental situation and take measures: they update outdated equipment, install new purifiers, etc., realizing that this will pay off later.

In order to avoid an environmental disaster and eliminate the constant threat of radioactive contamination of the area, measures are being taken to create capacities for breaking up ships and disposing of radioactive waste. “It is planned to build a number of plants (in particular, in Khabarovsk, a waste incineration plant with a capacity of 863 thousand cubic meters per year and a waste processing plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur with a capacity of 500 thousand cubic meters per year) and a number of other facilities.”

Many years of experience in operating a coastal oil-contaminated water treatment plant in the village of Preobrazhenie has shown that on average more than 6,000 tons of water are processed per year and about 400-500 tons of oil products are released. A second similar station, somewhat modernized, was built in the village of Zarubino at the Far Eastern base of the seafood processing fleet. Both stations have significantly improved the environmental situation in their areas.

The state of the environment in the main coal regions remains generally unsatisfactory, but in 1994 there was some improvement in environmental indicators for the coal mining industry.

New enterprises are also being built taking into account modern environmental safety requirements. For example, the Bureyskaya HPP project is being implemented, which solves the problem of providing electricity to consumers in the south of the Far East, reducing the supply of fuel to the region, increasing the reliability of power supply, and helping to solve problems of improving the social and environmental living conditions of the population.

As I said, the Bureyskaya HPP project was developed taking into account minimizing damage to the natural environment. The creation of the Bureya Hydroelectric Power Station reservoir and changes in the flow regime of the Bureya River below the dam site will not entail a violation of the ecological balance; the cultural and everyday value of the natural complex will not be significantly disrupted. The formation of a reservoir will have a beneficial effect on the reproduction of forests and the afforestation of swamps in the coastal zone, as well as the settlement of slopes with productive Manchurian species. The creation of a reservoir creates conditions for the spread of new species of waterfowl and semi-aquatic birds, as well as mammals (muskrat, American mink, otter).

Conclusion.

Let's summarize the main points of my essay:

The current management practice in the region does not take into account the local characteristics of natural and climatic conditions, the extremely low restoration potential of ecosystems and, despite the measures taken, does not ensure the rational use, protection and reproduction of natural resources.

Extensive, exhaustive use of natural resources has undermined the self-reproduction potential of renewable natural resources.

The load on the environment is not continuous, but focal in nature, which leads to serious local disturbances, while it must be borne in mind that most of the region is located in the permafrost zone.

Unique natural formations coexist with areas of acute environmental problems. The exhaustive extensive use of natural resources and the development of environmentally harmful industries have led to the emergence of potential sources of social tension.

Environmental activities in an unstable economic and socio-political situation are complicated. There is practically no effective system for monitoring the state of the environment and its changes under the influence of economic activities.

These problems need to be solved, and many different projects are already being created to improve the environmental situation in the Far East, but all of this is still at the development stage. Ideally, nature, society and economy should coexist harmoniously without conflicting with each other.

For example, the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has developed a long-term program for nature conservation and rational use of natural resources in the Far East. This program contains the principles of rational use of resources, preservation of the unique species composition of biota, and reduction of the genetic consequences of environmental pollution (however, recently, due to the ruin and almost complete shutdown of some enterprises, the intensity of environmental pollution with harmful waste has decreased somewhat).

To solve problems in the region, organizations have been created that develop and implement, in particular, the concept of engineering and environmental support for the safety of the Sakhalin shelf in areas where oil and gas fields are being developed.

For the projects being created, the general features of the further development of the region are as follows: mechanisms of environmental incentives for environmental protection should be used, including:

tax exemption for environmental funds; transfer of part of the funds from environmental funds on contractual terms to enterprises, institutions, and organizations to find solutions to acute environmental problems; application of preferential lending to enterprises, institutions and organizations, regardless of their form of ownership, that effectively protect the environment.

The priority goals of interregional schemes are:

ensuring environmental safety and sustainable development of natural and economic systems in the territories of the relevant basins through the implementation of agreed decisions in regional development; mutual cooperation in solving environmental problems and the use of natural resources; ensuring the interests of the Russian Federation in solving interregional and global environmental problems; formation of a network of specially protected natural areas.

Bibliography

Busygina I.E. Russian Far East. // World economy and international relations. -No. 5-1995.

Avdeev Yu.A., Baklanov P.Ya., Konovalenko V.G. Features of the Far Eastern region in connection with the problem of rational environmental management. // Rational environmental management in the Far East. –Vladivostok: Far Eastern Scientific Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1981.

Environmental aspects of the development of productive forces of the Far East. –M: Nauka, 1992.

Alimov Yu.P., Zhokhova V.P. Analysis of the efficiency of distribution of productive forces in Siberia and the Far East. – M: Finance, 1979.

Darinsky A.V. and others. Geography of Russia. - M., 1993.

http://www.nns.ru/

http://www.fegi.ru/

To prepare this work, materials from the site http://cityref.ru/ were used

A.V. Darinsky and others. Geography of Russia. - M., 1993. - p. 56.

Yu.A. Avdeev, P.Ya. Baklanov, V.G. Konovalenko. Features of the Far Eastern region in connection with the problem of rational environmental management. // Rational environmental management in the Far East. –Vladivostok: Far Eastern Scientific Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1981, p. 41.

Ibid., p. 42.

A.G. Alimov, O.M. Zhokhov. Analysis of the efficiency of distribution of productive forces in Siberia and the Far East. - M., 1979 - p. 72.

Ibid., p.79.

Environmental aspects of the development of productive forces of the Far East. –M: Nauka, 1992, p. 31.

I.E. Busygina. Russian Far East. // World economy and international relations. -№5-1995, -p.24.

Data on www.nns.ru.

I.E. Busygina. Russian Far East. // World economy and international relations. -No. 5-1995, -p. 26.

Data on www.nns.ru.

So, the Far Eastern region is very different from other Russian regions. Let us consider this specificity in more detail; in particular, it is largely determined by climate.

<…>...If we ignore the average indicators and consider the real conditions of the growing season in the Far East, then they partly correspond to the conditions of the more northern regions of the USSR, rather than the black earth and non-black earth centers located at the same latitude.”