Theme3+Human+&+Environment+Interaction+JOY

**Human & Environment Interaction Russia and Two Neighboring Countries- Youjin Kwon**  **Introduction** Since I am informing on Russia and Neighboring countries, I looked for one problem that was common throughout the world. First environmental problem I have found is Water Shortage Russia and Central Asia regions have been traditionally suffering from water shortage. This problem is continuing to cause problems in Russia. We will cover some explanations on this water shortage. China is also suffering water shortages because amount of arable land is decreasing daily. Poland is no exception to this phenomenon. Next, we will talk about what causes such changes in climate and nature. The rain floods and floods have become more frequent. The damage caused by floods make more than 50% of all economic losses caused by natural disaster. As you can see from this inference, Russia has floods occasionally. Ironically, when you have frequent flooding, what you can't have is water. Usable water supply is shortened whenever a region experiences floods. Yes, this means that you can't drink water even when there is water everywhere. Russia and neighboring countries experienced many floods. Many cities and regions of Russia are partially flooded once within 8–12 years; Barnaul, Bijsk, Orsk, Ufa and some other cities are partially flooded as often as once within 2–3 years. Among those, the Lensk flood in Yakutia in 2001 has become a national tragedy. The town was almost totally washed away.
 * I. Water Shortage**



In China, there are SEVERE water pollution. They are faced with challenges o supplying safe, clean water to its 1.3 billion residents. The continuing economic growth and population increase worsens China's water shortage. The World Bank has published a report on the water shortage problem in China. The Report, "Addressing China's Water Scarcity" urges China to reform the water resource management system. This problem does not only apply to China. As a Korean citizen who live close by China, no one wants to drink the polluted water from China. In China's major cities, water is priced between 1 and 3 yuan which is expensive compared to Brazil and England. It would be extremely difficult to adjust to the increasing prices of water supply. The social impact of water price increase would be very big. One environmental specialist Xie Jian from World Bank said that "it is essential to make sure the low-income group receive the water supply service when the price is adjusted"

Now, Let's look at Poland's situation. So far, Poland is doing relatively well on environmental policies. Water quality and safe sanitation are seen as a top priority in Poland. However, this does not mean that Poland is without challenges. The water pollution from industrial and disposal of hazardous wastes is a major problems. The industrial and agricultural pollutants are still continuing. They is a low level of political support, weak policy, and lack of finance to enforce environmental policies.

**II. Causes and Impact on Humans**

It is the Arctic Region and thawing permafrost which covers about 60% of the Russia’s territory. It is there that the climate change is most affecting the nature. This imbalance of climate system are also causes the meteorological events such as floods and droughts,heat waves and rapid frosts, tornados and heavy snowfalls etc. According to the observation, the number natural disasters in Russia annually increases by 6,3% According to the World Bank, the annual damage caused by various hydrometeorological events, including climate change consequences has already been assessed at 30-60 billion roubles.


 * III. Forest Management **

Russia and neighboring countries have 22% of the world's forest area. The total area is 1.87 billion acres. The annul growth of the Russian forests is nearly 1000 million. The forests in Russia are exposed to significant amount of forest fires, insects outbreaks. Priority in forest resources use is given to logging enterprises. They have operated in a particular territory for a long time and have seized capacity for logging. The processing of the wood and other forest products and demand for the forest industry products have increased continually.

The picture below shows the results of extreme logging in the Russian and neighboring countries' forests.





The picture below shows the different type of trees in the areas of Russia and Neighboring Countries.



Citation [|**http://www.wwf.ru/resources/publ/book/eng/275/**] [|http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-08/17/xin_3308031717203692474511.jpg] [|http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-02/09/content_7455718.htm] [|http://www.euro.who.int/eehc/implementation/20061228_8]