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The World’s most polluted places

Posted by Ben | in Environment | on October 19th, 2006
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The Blacksmith Institute, a US environmental organisation, has released the inglorious list of the world’s top ten most polluted places 2006. Mailuu Suu in Kyrgyzstan has the dubious honour of being the only place in Central Asia and the Caucasus that made it on this list, although Sumgayit on the Absheron peninsula near Baku had also been shortlisted.

As for Mailuu Suu:

There are twenty-three tailing dumps and thirteen waste rock dumps scattered throughout Mailuu-Suu, home to a former Soviet uranium plant. From 1946-1968 the plant produced and processed more than 10,000 metric tons of uranium ore, products which were eventually used to produce the Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb. What remains now are not atomic bombs, but 1.96 million cubic meters of radioactive mining waste that threatens the entire Ferghana valley, one of the most fertile and densely populated area in Central Asia.

(c) OSCE

A local UNDP expert says that Germany is also responsible for the looming desaster:

The expert recognizes there are serious environmental problems in Mailuu-Suu: “There is a major storage facility for radioactive waste from uranium processing there; by the way, the waste there is not only local, but also brought from Germany.”

In fact, ores from Bulgaria, China, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia have been transported to Mailuu-Suu during Soviet times.

The Kyrygz specialist goes on to say that Uzbekistan has already reacted to the danger thanks to international help:

According to the expert, the Uzbek authorities have taken necessary measures: if dangerous agents get into water, the polluted water will go to sedimentation tanks through the irrigative network constructed by Uzbekistan.

Turning to Azerbaijan, Sumgayit’s heavy industries have led to a staggering degree of environmental degradation. Today, the Absheron peninsula is barren land with almost no vegetation. The moon landscape outside of Baku is a sober reminder of the human’s impact.


Out of the other 35 shortlisted places, eight are in Russia and one (Chernobyl) in the Ukraine. The Soviet Union’s legacy will live for hundreds of years.

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  1. test said,

    on November 2nd, 2006 at 4:40 pm

    Most polluter of the world is United States

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol#Position_of_the_United_States
    The United States (U.S.), although a signatory to the protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The signature alone is symbolic, as the protocol is non-binding over the United States unless ratified.

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