Principles And Mechanisms Of The Ecological Protection Of The Azov-black Sea Basin In Ukraine
PRINCIPLES AND MECHANISMS OF THE ECOLOGICAL PROTECTION OF THE AZOV-BLACK SEA BASIN IN UKRAINE
A.G. Topchijev, L.V. Khomych
I.I. Mechnikov National University of Odessa, Ukraine
Natural peculiarities of the Azov-Black Sea basin. The Azov-Black Sea basin is a peculiar and unique object as for many characteristics. Its main peculiarities include the vast catchment area, the slow vertical mixing of water, the relative isolation of the water body and the slow outward water exchange in addition to the low level species biodiversity. All these factors and the fact that high level of economic activities are found within the basin areas, has resulted in an ecological crisis.
The Azov and Black Seas depend greatly on their catchment basins, which are much larger than the area of the seas. This explains the high level of the anthropogenic pressures on the marine ecosystems. The northwestern part of the sea is most heavily impacted. The catchment area of the Azov-Black Sea basin is 2,4 mln. m2, 23% of which is in the territory of Ukraine. Practically all of the territory of Ukraine (98%) is in the Azov-Black Sea basin.
The sea shore stretches for more than 3 thousand kilometers; the territorial water area is 29,5 thousand km2. The area of Ukrainian territorial waters (depth curve up to 200 m) is 5575 thousand km2, which constitutes 57% of the total Black Sea shelf. Due to their shallowness, the coastal waters are very sensitive to pollution. There are 14 limans and estuaries along the Ukrainian coast (1952 km2), 8 bays (1770 km2), 20 coastal wetlands (635 thousand hectares).
The scale of pollution and the current ecological situation. The six regions of the country – Donetsk, Zaporozhje, Kherson, Nikolajev, Odessa oblasts and the Crimea – are coastal and their influence on ecological state of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is the most significant. All the coastal regions of Ukraine are characterized by intensive land use and significant scale of economic activities, which led to high level of anthropogenic pressure on the coasts and coastal waters of the Ukrainian part of the Azov-Black Sea basin. The maximum concentration of the population and industrial potential is
in the narrow coastal area (e.g. in Odessa oblast 70% of the population is concentrated in the coast zone). The density of the population in other coastal oblasts does not exceed the average figures for Ukraine of 83 people per km2 (table 1).
Table 1. Population and demography in the coastal areas (as for 01.01.99)
Administrative unit
Population, mln. people
Density of the population (people/ km2)
Odessa oblast
2,5
76
Nikolajev oblast
1,3
53
Kherson oblast
1,2
43
Zaporozhje oblast
2,0
74
The Crimean Autonomous Republic
2,1
82
Donetsk oblast
5,0
189
Azov-Black Sea area in total
14,1
85
The percentage of the land intensively used for agriculture is relatively high. The ratio of the agricultural fields makes up 64,8 % for the Black Sea coast and 76,6 % for the Azov Sea coast.
In 1998, 265 mln м3 of sewage were discharged into the sea within the borders of Ukraine, including 224, 6 mln m3 of treated water according to the accepted standards and 34,5 mln m3 of poorly treated water and 5,9 mln m3 that was untreated [3]. More than six thousand tons of suspended matter and five thousand tons of organic substances reach the seas annually. Donetsk and Odessa oblasts discharge the highest quantities of non-treated water into the natural water bodies. There is a tendency to reduce the pollution due to improved purification of the sewage water as well as due to industrial decline.
The anthropogenic sources of pollution can be divided into three groups:
– Big and small rivers, which cross the urban territories with developed industry or/and intensive agriculture;
– Coastal cities, towns and villages, port complexes, that discharge sewage, manufacturing waters, rain, and drainage waters, thus polluting the coastal waters;
– Economic activity in the coastal waters: dredging activities, navigation and excavation of mineral resources.
The rivers are the main source of pollution of the marine environment. They bring up to 80% - 90% of certain pollutants. Next are run-off and industrial and municipal water discharges. These form locally polluted areas, contaminated with heavy metals, synthetic chemicals, oil products, and nutrients.
There are also the “hot spots” of constant pollution. Their sources include big cities where industry and ports are concentrated. These are serious source of the sewage, industrial discharges and other waste. In Ukraine these cities include Odessa, Krasnoperekopsk, Yevpatoria, Sebastopol, Balaklava, Yalta, Kerch, Mariupol etc. The Danube, Dniester, Dnieper and Yuzhny Bug deltas can also be treated as kind of hot spots.
In the areas where municipal wastewater is discharged, synthetic surface-active chemicals or detergents are very active, as well as nutrients. The resulting pollution has caused local beaches to be closed. There is a positive tendency for reduction of this kind of pollution at the moment. The level of pollution by organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls is insignificant. The concentration of phenols in sea water remains rather high; in some open-sea places it exceeds 10 times the accepted limits and in some coastal areas 30-35 times. The existing system of sewage water collection does not provide the recognized quality standards of seawater near big cities and recreational areas. The main reason for this is deficiency in modern water purifying facilities and the fact that recycled water supply is not practiced at the industrial enterprises.
The maximum concentration of the polluted spots is characteristic of the mouth areas of the big rivers – the Danube, the Dniester, the Dnieper, which accumulate pollution from a vast catchment areas. Thus the concentration of suspended matter in the coastal area of the Dniester liman exceeds the average pollution level by 7-10 times, and in the Danube pre-mouth area this index is 15-50 times.
Oil products remain the main pollutant of the marine environment. Their concentration in Odessa, Illychevsk, and Kerch ports and especially in Sebastopol bay is extremely high. Here the pollution by oil products exceeds 3-10 times the accepted limits [2].
The bottom sediments are significantly polluted in sea ports, especially in the areas of wastewater discharge (table 2). Among bottom pollutants one can distinguish oil products (bottom pollution in Karantin Bay is hundreds of times over the accepted limits), aromatic hydrocarbon and benzapilene, heavy metals, especially mercury, pesticides (DDT and its metabolites).
The ecological state of big and small rivers that flow into the Azov and Black Seas is considered to be “ecologically critical” and for many small rivers as “there are signs of deterioration” [3].
Table 2. Concentration of the oil products in bottom sediments in the ports
Concentration of the oil products
Ports
Odessa
Yuzhnyi
Illychevsk
Ust- Dunaisk
Sebastopol
g/kg
3,8
1.9
2,7
4,5
12,8
According to a comprehensive evaluation of the water quality the most polluted are waters of the Yuzhny Bug and Bug liman, which are classified as “extremely polluted”. This is followed by water in the Danube Delta and Sebastopol Bay – which is classified as being “highly polluted”, and in Sukhoi Liman (port Illychevsk) – “quite polluted”, in Yalta and Alupka Bay – “medium polluted”, in Gurzuf Bay – “clean”. As for the Sea of Azov, it should be mentioned that water in Mariupol port and in northern part of the Kerch Straight is reported to be “polluted”.
Transboundary, international character of the Azov-Black Sea ecological problems. In order to protect Azov-Black Sea basin, Ukraine needs to actively cooperate with the other Black Sea countries. Ukraine started it in 1992 and signed the International Convention on Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution, that was ratified in 1994. This Convention was followed by the Ministry Declaration on Protection of the Black Sea (Odessa, 1993). It served as basis for International Programme of the Environmental Management and Protection of the Black Sea as well as for the Strategic Action Plan, which were elaborated and approved in 1996.
Ukraine is a member of the Convention on Prevention of the Pollution by Marine Vessels, that defines Azov-Black Sea region as “region of special concern”. In 1992, the Black Sea states established an international organization “Black Sea Economic Cooperation”, in order to develop a transboundary cooperation. One of its working groups made resolution on harmonization of the national monitoring systems of the environment in the Black Sea countries. (Sofia, 1998), as well as on creation of the Black Sea Ecological Fund and implementation of a common system for the state control of the ports in the region.
Directions and principles of the ecological improvement of the Azov-Black Sea basin. The main direction of the ecological improvement of the Azov-Black Sea is active enlargement of the protected areas on the sea coasts.
Among Black-Sea countries, Ukraine possesses vast wetland areas, the conservation of which supports biodiversity and fulfils water self-purifying function. Moreover, there are many wetlands in Ukraine, which according to the Ramsar Convention 1971 have nature conservation, recreational, scientific, esthetic value and international significance as water bird habitats.
Table 3. Area of wetlands of international significance
Administrative units
Area of wetlands, ha
% of the total area of wetlands
Odessa oblast
120400
20,3
Nikolajev oblast
30000
5,0
Kherson oblast
81000
13,7
Zaporozhje oblast
332000
56,0
The Crimean Autonomous Republic*
26200
4,4
Donetsk oblast
3400
0,6
Azov-Black Sea area in total
593000
100
* both on territories of Kherson oblast and the Crimea
The total area of nature-reserve fund is 2,8 thousand km2, which makes up 15% of the coastal line (this index for the rest of Ukraine is 3,4%). Fourteen wetlands have status of reserves, amongst them the Danube and Black Sea are Biosphere Reserves.
In order to protect the natural coastal landscapes and to manage the resources in a more sustainable way, it is suggested to double the territories of the nature-reserve fund in 10 years, by means of enlarging of the Danube Biosphere Reserve, Cape Martjan Reserve, Black Sea Reserve, Azov-Sivash National Park as well as by establishing new ones – Dniester Floodplain Reserve, Lower Dniester and Sebastopol National Parks, Tiligul Landscape Park etc.
The principles of Azov-Black Sea basin ecological protection are the following:
– International cooperation, development of international programmes for marine basins ecological protection and their implementation;
– Harmonization of the legislation and regulation of the nature use in the Black Sea countries;
– Whole river basin approaches to water quality management (river management) for the main rivers;
– Creation of inventories of the anthropogenic pressures in the Azov-Black Sea basin that are formed in the coastal areas and countries;
– Defining “hot spots” on the coast and implementation of the programmes aimed at improvement of their ecological state;
– Development of the Black Sea Ecological Fund and implementation of a unified system to control the ports and pollution of the Azov-Black Sea basin caused by navigation;
– Implementation in all Black Sea countries systems of Integrated Coastal Zone Management;
– Development of the nature reserve fund in the coastal areas and changing the wetland protection regime;
– Organising economic activities according to sustainable principles of spatial planning, e.g. buffer zones;
– Implementation of new ecologically-safe technologies for land management and use of other natural resources;
– Improving the land use structure - reducing the area of agricultural fields, carrying out a land reform taking into consideration the special value of the recreational and protected areas.
References
1. Mikhailov V.I., Lisovskiy R.I. Ecological Problems of the Black Sea / Ecological Problems of the Cities, Recreational Zones and Protected Areas. – Odessa, SCSEIO, 2000. – С. 122-123.
2. National Report on Current State and Perspectives of the National Network of the Integrated Coastal Zone in Ukraine / Shevchuk V., Tkachev А., Topchijev О. et.al. – K.- Odesa, 1995. – 157 p.
3. National Report on State of the Environment in Ukraine in 1998 / Edited by V. Shevchuk. – К.: Ministry for the Environment and Nuclear safety of Ukraine – 1999. – 161 p.
4. National Politics and Strategy of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Ukraine. – Odessa-Kyiv, 1997. – 38 p.
5. Rudenko L.G., Gorlenko I.A., Oleshchenko V.I. Ukraine on its Way to Sustainable Development (geoecological aspects). – К.: Institute of Geography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2000. – 32 p.
6. Black Sea Environmental Priorities Study. National Repot of Ukraine. (1998). United Nations Publications. New York. p. 105.
7. Black Sea Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis. (1997). United Nations Development Programmer. 1.UN Plaza. New York. p.142.
8. Integrated Coastal Zone Management of the Black Sea Countries, (1996). BSEP – Commission of the European Communities.
Related articles::