Ecocide, or ecocatastrophe, is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss
of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by
other, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of
that territory has been or will be severely diminished. Ecocide may have
been previously used to refer to a very potent pesticide, particularly 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate).
Anthropogenic ecocide
The term ecocide is more recently used to refer to the destructive impact of humanity on its own natural environment. As a group of complex organisms we are committing ecocide through unsustainableexploitation of the planet's resources. The geological era we are living in, known as the anthropocene, is so named because the activities of the human species are influencing the Earth's natural state in a way never seen before. The most notable example is that of the atmosphere which is being transformed through the emission of gases from fossil fuel use : carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons
etc. The ecocide we are witnessing is a symptom of the disregard and
reward for accounting for the damage being caused. U.S. environmental
theorist and activist Patrick Hossay
argues that the human species is committing ecocide, via industrial
civilization's effects on the global environment. Much of the modern
environmental movement stems from this belief as a precept.
Ecocide as a proposed international crime
The concept of ecocide as an international crime originated in the 1970s.
In 2010 it was proposed that the Rome Statute be amended to include the international crime of Ecocide. The proposal was submitted to the United Nations International Law Commission who are '‘'mandated to promote the progressive development of international law and its codification’.
The definition proposed includes provisions for both individual and
state responsibility and would be a strict liability crime(including
both intent and negligence). It would create a duty of care in events of
naturally occurring ecocide as well as creating criminal responsibility
for human caused ecocide.
Severity of environmental harm
To be considered an ecocide under the proposed law, an environmental harm would need to be widespread, long lasting or severe. This is the parameter based disjunctive test, as already set out under the 1977 United Nations Convention on Environmental Modification, which specifies the terms ‘widespread’, ‘long-lasting’ or ‘severe’ as:
widespread: encompassing an area on the scale of several hundred square kilometers; and/or
long-lasting: lasting for a period of months, or approximately a season; and/or
severe: involving serious or significant disruption or harm to human life, natural and economic resources or other assets.
History
1970
The word was recorded at the Conference on War and National Responsibility in Washington 1970, where Arthur Galston proposed a new international agreement to ban ecocide.
Galston was a US biologist who identified the defoliant effects of a
chemical later developed into Agent Orange. Subsequently a bioethicist,
he was the first in 1970 to name massive damage and destruction of
ecosystems as an ecocide.
In an obiter dictum
in the 1970 Barcelona Traction case judgement, the International Court
of Justice identified a category of international obligations called erga omnes,
namely obligations owed by states to the international community as a
whole, intended to protect and promote the basic values and common
interests of all.
1972
In 1972 at the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment which adopted the Stockholm Declaration, Olof Palme the Prime Minister of Sweden, in his opening speech spoke explicitly of the Vietnam war
as an ecocide and it was discussed in the unofficial events running
parallel to the official UN Stockholm Conference on Human Environment.
Others, including Indira Gandhi from India and Tang Ke, the leader of
the Chinese delegation, also denounced the war in human and
environmental terms. They too called for ecocide to be an international
crime[citation needed].
A Working Group on Crimes Against the Environment was formed at the
conference, and a draft Ecocide Convention was submitted into the United
Nations in 1973.
Dai Dong, a branch of the International Fellowship of
Reconciliation sponsored a Convention on Ecocidal War which took place
in Stockholm, Sweden. The Convention brought together many people
including experts Richard A. Falk, expert on the international law of
war crimes and Robert Jay Lifton, a psychohistorian. The Convention
called for a United Nations Convention on Ecocidal Warfare, which would
amongst other matters seek to define and condemn ecocide as an
international crime of war. Richard A. Falk drafted an Ecocide
Convention in 1973, explicitly stating at the outset to recognise "that
man has consciously and unconsciously inflicted irreparable damage to
the environment in times of war and peace".
Westing's view was that the element of intent did not always
apply. "Intent may not only be impossible to establish without admission
but, I believe, it is essentially irrelevant."
1978
Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind
discussions commence. At the same time, State responsibility and
international crimes are discussed and drafted.
The ILC 1978 Yearbook's 'Draft articles on State Responsibility
and International Crime' included: "an international crime (which) may
result, inter alia, from: (d) a serious breach of an international
obligation of essential importance for the safeguarding and preservation
of the human environment, such as those prohibiting massive pollution
of the atmosphere or of the seas." Supporters who spoke out in favour of a crime of ecocide included Romania and the Holy See, Austria, Poland, Rwanda, Congo and Oman
1985
Ecocide as a crime continued to be addressed. The Whitaker Report, commissioned by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on the question of the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide was prepared by then Special Rapporteur, Benjamin Whitaker. The report contained a passage that "some members of the Sub-Commission
have, however, proposed that the definition of genocide should be
broadened to include cultural genocide or "ethnocide", and also
"ecocide": adverse alterations, often irreparable, to the environment -
for example through nuclear explosions, chemical weapons, serious
pollution and acid rain, or destruction of the rain forest - which
threaten the existence of entire populations, whether deliberately or
with criminal negligence."
1987
Discussion of international crimes continued in the International
Law Commission, where it was proposed that "the list of international
crimes include "ecocide", as a reflection of the need to safeguard and
preserve the environment, as well as the first use of nuclear weapons, colonialism, apartheid, economic aggression and mercenarism".
1991
The ILC 'Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind' of 1991 contained 12 crimes. One of those was 'wilful damage to the environment (Article 26)'.
1993
As of 29 March 1993, the Secretary-General had received 23
replies from Member States and one reply from a non-member State. They
were: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, Greece, Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), Paraguay, Poland, Senegal, Sudan,
Turkey, UK, USA, Uruguay and Switzerland. Many objections were raised,
for summarised commentary see the 1993 ILC Yearbook. Only
three countries, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of
America, opposed the inclusion of an environmental crime.
The issue of adding a high test of intent (‘wilful’) was of concern:
Austria commented: "Since perpetrators of this crime are usually acting
out of a profit motive, intent should not be a condition for liability
to punishment." Belgium and Uruguay also took the position that no
element of intent was necessary for the crime of severe damage to the
environment (Article 26).
1996
In 1996, Canadian/Australian lawyer Mark Gray published his
proposal for an international crime of ecocide, based on established
international environmental and human rights law. He demonstrated that
states, and arguably individuals and organisations, causing or
permitting harm to the natural environment on a massive scale breach a
duty of care owed to humanity in general. He proposed that such
breaches, where deliberate, reckless or negligent, be identified as
ecocide where they entail serious, and extensive or lasting, ecological damage; international consequences; and waste.
Meanwhile, in the ILC, ‘wilful and severe damage to the
environment’ (Article 26) had been tasked to a working-group: "The
Commission further decided that consultations would continue as regards
[Article 26] …the Commission decided … to establish a working group that
would meet … to examine the possibility of covering in the draft Code
the issue of wilful and severe damage to the environment ... the
Commission decided by a vote to refer to the Drafting Committee only the
text prepared by the working group for inclusion of wilful and severe
damage to the environment as a war crime.
"
1998
The final Draft Code was used as inspiration for the Rome Statute
at the United Nations United Nations Diplomatic Conference of
Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal
Court, which was held in Rome.
The Rome Statute was the founding document of the International
Criminal Court (ICC), to be used when a state is either unwilling or
unable to bring their own prosecutions for international crimes.
Ecocide was not included in the Rome Statute as a separate crime, but featured in relation to a war-crime.
The test for this war crime was narrower than previous proposed tests.
Under the Environmental Modification Convention 1977 (ENMOD) the test
for war-time environmental destruction is ‘widespread, long-term or severe’, whereas Article 8(2)(b) of the Rome Statute 1998 modified the ENMOD test with the change of one word to ‘widespread, long-term and severe.’ Article 8(2)(b) limited environmental harm to circumstances when
"Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack
will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to
civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the
natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the
concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated."
2010
The proposal for the crime of Ecocide was submitted to the United
Nations by a private party. In March 2010, British "earth lawyer" Polly
Higgins submitted to the United Nations an amendment to the Rome
Statute, proposing that “ecocide” be legally recognised as the fifth
international Crime against peace.
The Rome Statute currently acknowledges four crimes against peace:
genocide; crimes against humanity; war crimes; and the crime of
aggression. Each of these crimes affects human victims. While Higgins’
proposed definition of ecocide attends to inhabitants’ “peaceful
enjoyment”, the victim the amendment is primarily promising to protect
is not human but environmental.
2011
A mock Ecocide Act was drafted and then tested in the UK Supreme Court via a mock trial by the Hamilton Group.
2012
A concept paper on the Law of Ecocide was sent out to governments In June 2012 the idea of making ecocide a crime was presented
to legislators and judges from around the world at the World Congress
on Justice Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability,
held in Mangaratiba before the Rio +20 Earth Summit, the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development. Making ecocide an international
crime was voted as one of the top twenty solutions to achieving
sustainable development at the World Youth Congress in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.
In October 2012 a range of experts gathered at the international conference Environmental Crime: Current and Emerging Threats[40]
held in Rome at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization Headquarters
hosted by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research
Institute(UNICRI) in cooperation with United Nations Environmental
Programme (UNEP) and the Ministry of the Environment (Italy). The
conference recognized that environmental crime is an important new form
of transnational organized crime in need a greater response. One of the
outcomes was that UNEP and UNICRI head up a study into the definition of
environmental crime, new environmental crime and give due consideration
to the history of making ecocide an international crime once again.
2013 - 2014 European citizen Initiative for criminalising ecocide
On January 22, 2013, a committee of eleven citizens from nine EU
countries officially launched the "European Citizens Initiative "End
Ecocide in Europe". The European Citizens' Initiative,
or ECI, is a tool created by the Lisbon Treaty to promote participative
and direct democracy. The ECI is a way for EU citizens to propose new
or suggest amendments to legislation directly to the European Commission
which is the institution proposing new EU laws. This initiative aimed
at criminalising ecocide, the extensive damage and destruction of
ecosystems, including the denial of market access for products based on
ecocide to the EU and investments in activities causing ecocide. Three
MEPs, Keith Taylor, Eva Joly, and Jo Leinen, publicly gave the first
signatures. The initiative did not collect the 1 million signatures needed, but was discussed in the European Parliament.
Existing domestic ecocide laws
Ten
countries have codified ecocide as a crime during peacetime. Those
countries follow closely the ILC Draft articles definition of "An
individual who wilfully causes or orders the causing of widespread,
long-term and severe damage to the natural environment shall, on
conviction thereof, be sentenced [to...]."
Although there are Laws of Ecocide in place, the effectiveness of these
laws depends on a number of factors including the enforcement of the
law, an independent judiciary and respect for the rule of law.
Many of the countries with national laws of ecocide in place are ranked
very highly for corruption and low for respect for the rule of law by Transparency International.
Article
409. Ecocide: "Ecocide, i.e. contamination of atmosphere, land and
water resources, mass destruction of flora and fauna or any other action
that could have caused ecological disaster - shall be punishable by
..."
Article
394. Ecocide: "Mass destruction of flora or fauna, poisoning the
environment, the soils or water resources, as well as implementation of
other actions causing an ecological catastrophe, is punished ..."
Article
441. Ecocide: "Mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning of air or
water resources, and also any other actions that may cause an
environmental disaster, - shall be punishable by ..."
Art
131. Ecocide: "Deliberate mass destruction of flora and fauna, or
poisoning the air or water, or the commission of other intentional acts
that could cause an ecological disaster (ecocide), - shall be punished
by ..."
Art
161. Ecocide: "Mass destruction of flora or fauna, poisoning the
atmosphere, land or water resources, as well as the commission of other
acts which caused or a capable of causation of an ecological
catastrophe, - shall be punished by..."
Art
374. Ecocide: "Massive destruction of the animal or plant kingdoms,
contamination of the atmosphere or water resources, and also commission
of other actions capable of causing an ecological catastrophe, shall be
punishable ..."
Art
136. Ecocide: "Deliberate mass destruction of flora and fauna,
poisoning the atmosphere or water resources, and the commission of other
acts that may cause or caused an ecological disaster shall be punished
..."
Art
358. Ecocide: "Massive destruction of the animal or plant kingdoms,
contamination of the atmosphere or water resources, and also commission
of other actions capable of causing an ecological catastrophe, shall be
punishable by ..."
Art
400. Ecocide: "Mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning the
atmosphere or water resources, as well as commitment of other actions
which may cause ecological disasters is punishable ..."
Art
196. Pollution of Natural Environment: "Pollution or damage of land,
water, or atmospheric air, resulted in mass disease incidence of people,
death of animals, birds, or fish, or other grave consequences – shall
be punished ..."
Art
342 Crimes against mankind: "Those who, in peace time or war time,
commit acts of ... as well as other acts of genocide or acts of ecocide
or destroying the natural environment, shall be sentenced ..."
The rainforest in Fatu-Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands,
is an example of an undisturbed natural resource. Forest provides
timber for humans, food, water and shelter for the flora and fauna
tribes and animals. The nutrient cycle between organisms form food chains and biodiversity of species.
The Carson Fall in Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia
is an example of undisturbed natural resource. Waterfalls provide
spring water for humans, animals and plants for survival and also
habitat for marine organisms. The water current can be used to turn
turbines for hydroelectric generation.
The ocean is an example of a natural resource. Ocean waves can be used to generate wave power, a renewable energy. Ocean water is important for salt production, desalination,
and providing habitat for deep water fishes. There are biodiversity of
marine species in the sea where nutrient cycles are common.
Natural resources are resources
that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued
characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, electrical properties
and forces etc. On earth it includes: sunlight, atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with all vegetation, crops and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances.
Particular areas such as the rainforest in Fatu-Hiva are often characterized by the biodiversity and geodiversity
existent in their ecosystems. Natural resources may be further
classified in different ways. Natural resources are materials and
components (something that can be used) that can be found within the
environment. Every man-made product is composed of natural resources (at
its fundamental level). A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as fresh water, air,
and as well as a living organism such as a fish, or it may exist in an
alternate form that must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, rare earth metals, petroleum, and most forms of energy.
There is much debate worldwide over natural resource allocations,
this is particularly true during periods of increasing scarcity and
shortages but also because the exportation of natural resources is the basis .
Classification
There are various methods of categorizing natural resources, these
include source of origin, stage of development, and by their
renewability.
On the basis of origin, natural resources may be divided into two types:
Biotic — Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere (living and organic material), such as forests and animals, and the materials that can be obtained from them. Fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic matter.
Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that come from non-living, non-organic material. Examples of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, air, rare earth metals and heavy metals including ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver, etc.
Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in the following ways:
Potential resources — Potential resources are those that may be used in the future—for example, petroleum in sedimentary rocks that, until drilled out and put to use remains a potential resource
Actual resources — Those resources that have been surveyed, quantified and qualified and, are are currently used—development, such as wood processing, depends on technology and cost
Reserve resources — The part of an actual resource that can be developed profitably in the future
Stock resources — Those that have been surveyed, but cannot be used due to lack of technology—for example, hydrogen
Many natural resources can be categorized as either renewable or non-renewable:
Renewable resources
— Renewable resources can be replenished naturally. Some of these
resources, like sunlight, air, wind, water, etc., are continuously
available and their quantity is not noticeably affected by human
consumption. Though many renewable resources do not have such a rapid
recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use.
Resources from a human use perspective are classified as renewable so
long as the rate of replenishment/recovery exceeds that of the rate of
consumption. They replenish easily compared to Non-renewable resources.
Non-renewable resources
– Non-renewable resources either form slowly or do not naturally form
in the environment. Minerals are the most common resource included in
this category. By the human perspective, resources are non-renewable
when their rate of consumption exceeds the rate of
replenishment/recovery; a good example of this are fossil fuels, which
are in this category because their rate of formation is extremely slow
(potentially millions of years), meaning they are considered
non-renewable. Some resources actually naturally deplete in amount
without human interference, the most notable of these being radio-active
elements such as uranium, which naturally decay into heavy metals. Of
these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them, but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled. Once they are completely used they take millions of years to replenish.
Extraction
Resource extraction involves any activity that withdraws resources from nature. This can range in scale from the traditional use of preindustrial societies, to global industry. Extractive industries are, along with agriculture, the basis of the primary sector of the economy. Extraction produces raw material, which is then processed to add value. Examples of extractive industries are hunting, trapping, mining, oil and gas drilling, and forestry. Natural resources can add substantial amounts to a country's wealth,
however a sudden inflow of money caused by a resource boom can create
social problems including inflation harming other industries ("Dutch disease") and corruption, leading to inequality and underdevelopment, this is known as the "resource curse".
Extractive industries represent a large growing activity in many
less-developed countries but the wealth generated does not always lead
to sustainable and inclusive growth. People often accuse extractive
industry businesses as acting only to maximize short-term value,
implying that less-developed countries are vulnerable to powerful
corporations. Alternatively, host governments are often assumed to be
only maximizing immediate revenue. Researchers argue there are areas of
common interest where development goals and business cross. These
present opportunities for international governmental agencies to engage
with the private sector and host governments through revenue management
and expenditure accountability, infrastructure development, employment creation, skills and enterprise development and impacts on children, especially girls and women.
A strong civil society can play an important role in ensuring effective
management of natural resources. Norway can serve as a role model in
this regard as it has good institutions and open and dynamic public
debate with strong civil society actors that provide an effective checks
and balances system for government's management of extractive
industries.
Depletion of resources
Wind is a natural resource that can be used to generate electricity, as with these 5MW wind turbines in Thorntonbank Wind Farm 28 km (17 mi) off the coast of Belgium
In recent years, the depletion of natural resources has become a major focus of governments and organizations such as the United Nations
(UN). This is evident in the UN's Agenda 21 Section Two, which outlines
the necessary steps for countries to take to sustain their natural
resources. The depletion of natural resources is considered a sustainable development issue.
The term sustainable development has many interpretations, most notably
the Brundtland Commission's 'to ensure that it meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs', however in broad terms it is balancing the needs of the planet's people and species now and in the future.
In regards to natural resources, depletion is of concern for
sustainable development as it has the ability to degrade current
environments and potential to impact the needs of future generations.
"The conservation
of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that
problem, it will avail us little to solve all others."
Depletion of natural resources is associated with social inequity. Considering most biodiversity are located in developing countries, depletion of this resource could result in losses of ecosystem services for these countries. Some view this depletion as a major source of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations.
At present, with it being the year of the forest, there is particular concern for rainforest regions that hold most of the Earth's biodiversity. According to Nelson
deforestation and degradation affect 8.5% of the world's forests with
30% of the Earth's surface already cropped. If we consider that 80% of
people rely on medicines obtained from plants and ¾ of the world's
prescription medicines have ingredients taken from plants, loss of the world's rainforests could result in a loss of finding more potential life saving medicines.
The depletion of natural resources is caused by 'direct drivers of change' such as Mining, petroleum extraction, fishing and forestry as well as 'indirect drivers of change' such as demography, economy, society, politics and technology. The current practice of Agriculture
is another factor causing depletion of natural resources. For example,
the depletion of nutrients in the soil due to excessive use of nitrogen and desertification.
The depletion of natural resources is a continuing concern for society. This is seen in the cited quote given by Theodore Roosevelt, a well-known conservationist and former United States president, who was opposed to unregulated natural resource extraction.
Protection
In 1982, the UN developed the World Charter for Nature,
which recognized the need to protect nature from further depletion due
to human activity. It states that measures must be taken at all societal
levels, from international to individual, to protect nature. It
outlines the need for sustainable use of natural resources and suggests
that the protection of resources should be incorporated into national
and international systems of law. To look at the importance of protecting natural resources further, the World Ethic of Sustainability, developed by the IUCN, WWF and the UNEP in 1990,
set out eight values for sustainability, including the need to protect
natural resources from depletion. Since the development of these
documents, many measures have been taken to protect natural resources
including establishment of the scientific field and practice of
conservation biology and habitat conservation, respectively.
Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on science, economics and the practice of natural resource management. The term conservation biology was introduced as the title of a conference held at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, California, in 1978, organized by biologists Bruce A. Wilcox and Michael E. Soulé.
Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants, and animals—with a particular focus on how management affects quality of life
for present and future generations. Hence, sustainable development is
followed according to judicial use of resources to supply both the
present generation and future generations.
Management of natural resources involves identifying who has the
right to use the resources and who does not for defining the boundaries
of the resource.
The resources are managed by the users according to the rules governing
of when and how the resource is used depending on local condition.
A "...successful management of natural resources depends on
freedom of speech, a dynamic and wide-ranging public debate through
multiple independent media channels and an active civil society engaged
in natural resource issues...",
because of the nature of the shared resources the individuals who are
affected by the rules can participate in setting or changing them.
The users have rights to devise their own management institutions and
plans under the recognition by the government. The right to resources
includes land, water, fisheries and pastoral rights.
The users or parties accountable to the users have to actively monitor
and ensure the utilisation of the resource compliance with the rules and
to impose penalty on those peoples who violates the rules.
These conflicts are resolved in a quick and low cost manner by the
local institution according to the seriousness and context of the
offence. The global science-based platform to discuss natural resources management is the World Resources Forum, based in Switzerland.
Natural Resources by country
Value of Natural Resources by country (in USD Trillions), 2016
European and Asian Russia: mostly cool continental climate, extreme North: tundra, extreme southeast: temperate continental
Terrain
Most of Russia consists of two plains (the East European Plain and the
West Siberian Plain), two lowlands (the North Siberian and the Kolyma,
in far northeastern Siberia), two plateaus (the Central Siberian Plateau
and the Lena Plateau to its east), and a series of mountainous areas
mainly concentrated in the extreme northeast or extending intermittently
along the southern border.
Natural Resources
minerals, oil, gas, coal, and timber
Natural Hazards
earthquakes, landslides, storms, hurricanes, forest fires and floods
Environmental Issues
deforestation, energy irresponsibility, pollution, and nuclear waste
The geography of Russia describes the geographic features of Russia, a country extending over much of northern Eurasia. Comprising much of eastern Europe and northern Asia, it is the world's largest country in total area.
Due to its size, Russia displays both monotony and diversity. As with
its topography, its climates, vegetation, and soils span vast distances. From north to south the East European Plain is clad sequentially in tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and broadleaf forests, grassland (steppe), and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea) as the changes in vegetation reflect the changes in climate. Siberia supports a similar sequence but is predominantly taiga. The country contains forty UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Global position and boundaries
Russia on the globe.
Located in the north, west and east latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere, most of Russia is much closer to the North Pole than to the
equator. Individual country comparisons are of little value in gauging
Russia's enormous size and diversity. The country's 17.09 million square
kilometers include one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Its
European portion, which occupies a substantial part of continental
Europe, is home to most of Russia's industrial activity and is where,
roughly between the Dnieper River and the Ural Mountains, the Russian
Empire took shape. Russia includes the entire northern portion of Asia.
Approximately two-thirds of the frontier is bounded by seawater. Virtually all of the lengthy northern coast is well above the Arctic Circle; except for the port of Murmansk—which receives currents that are somewhat warmer than would be expected at that latitude, due to the effects of the Gulf Stream—that coast is locked in ice much of the year. Thirteen seas and parts of three oceans—the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific—wash Russian shores.
With a few changes of status, most of the Soviet-era administrative
and territorial divisions of the Russian Republic were retained in
constituting the Russian Federation. As of 2014, there are eighty-five
administrative territorial divisions (called federal subjects): twenty-two republics, nine krais (territories), forty-six oblasts (provinces), one autonomous oblast, four autonomous okrugs, and three cities with federal status, namely the cities of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Sevastopol.
The republics include a wide variety of peoples, including northern Europeans, Tatars, Caucasus peoples, and indigenous Siberians. The largest federal subjects are in Siberia. Located in east-central Siberia, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) is the largest federal subject in the country (and the largest country subdivision in the world), twice the size of Alaska. Second in size is Krasnoyarsk Krai, located west of Sakha in Siberia. Kaliningrad Oblast, which is a noncontiguous constituent entity of Russia, is the smallest oblast. The Republic of Ingushetia is both the smallest republic and the smallest federal subject of Russia except for the three federal cities. The two most populous federal subjects, Moscow Oblast (with Moscow) and Krasnodar Krai, are in European Russia.
The East European Plain encompasses most of European Russia. The West Siberian Plain, which is the world's largest, extends east from the Urals to the Yenisei River.
Because the terrain and vegetation are relatively uniform in each of
the natural zones, Russia presents an illusion of uniformity.
Nevertheless, Russian territory contains all the major vegetation zones
of the world except a tropical rain forest.
About 57 percent of Russia is tundra—a treeless, marshy plain. The tundra is Russia's northernmost zone, stretching from the Finnish border in the west to the Bering Strait in the east, then running south along the Pacific coast to the northern Kamchatka Peninsula. The zone is known for its herds of wild reindeer, for so-called white nights
(dusk at midnight, dawn shortly thereafter) in summer, and for days of
total darkness in winter. The long, harsh winters and lack of sunshine
allow only mosses, lichens, and dwarf willows and shrubs to sprout low above the barren permafrost.
Although several powerful Siberian rivers traverse this zone as they
flow northward to the Arctic Ocean, partial and intermittent thawing
hamper drainage of the numerous lakes, ponds, and swamps of the tundra.
Frost weathering is the most important physical process here, gradually
shaping a landscape that was severely modified by glaciation in the last ice age.
Less than one percent of Russia's population lives in this zone. The
fishing and port industries of the northwestern Kola Peninsula and the
huge oil and gas
fields of northwestern Siberia are the largest employers in the tundra.
With a population of 180,000, the industrial frontier city of Norilsk is second in population to Murmansk among Russia's settlements above the Arctic Circle. From here you can also see the auroras (northern lights).
Taiga
Taiga - the
most extensive natural area of Russia - stretches from the western
borders of Russia to the Pacific. It occupies the territory of the
Eastern Europe and West Siberian plains to the north of 56 ° -58 ° N and
most of the territory east of Yenisei River
taiga forests reach the southern borders of Russia in Siberia taiga
only accounts for over 60% of Russia. In the north-south direction the
eastern taiga is divided (east of the Yenisei River), with a continental
climate, and west, with a milder climate, in general, the climate zone
is moist, moderately warm (cool in the north) in the summer and harsh
winter, there is a steady snow cover in the winter. In the latitudinal
direction the taiga is divided into three subzones - northern, middle
and southern taiga. In the western taiga dense spruce and fir forests on wetlands alternate with pine
forests, shrubs and meadows on the lighter soils. Such vegetation is
typical of the eastern taiga, but it plays an important role not fir and
larch. Coniferous forest, however, does not form a continuous array and
sparse areas of birch, alder, willow (mainly in river valleys), the wetlands - marshes. Within the taiga are widespread fur-bearing animals - sable, marten, ermine, moose, brown bear, wolverine, wolf, and muskrat.
Moose
In the taiga is dominated by podzolic
and cryogenic taiga soils, characterized by clearly defined horizontal
structure (only in the southern taiga there are sod-podzolic soil).
Formed in a leaching regime, poor humus om. Groundwater is normally found in the forest close to the surface, washing calcium
from the upper layers, resulting in the top layer of soil of the taiga
discolored and oxidized. Few areas of the taiga, suitable for farming,
are located mainly in the European part of Russia. Large areas are
occupied by sphagnum marshes (here is dominated by podzolic-boggy soil). To enrich the soil for agricultural purposes should be making lime and other fertilizer.
Russian Taiga has the world's largest reserves of coniferous
wood, but from year to year - as a result of intensive logging - they
decrease. Development of hunting, farming (mainly in river valleys).
The mixed and deciduous forest belt is triangular, widest along the western border and narrower towards the Ural Mountains. The main trees are Oak and Spruce, but many other growths of vegetation such as ash, aspen, birch, hornbeam, maple, and pine
reside there. Separating the taiga from the wooded steppe is a narrow
belt of birch and aspen woodland located east of the Urals as far as the
Altay Mountains. Much of the forested zone has been cleared for agriculture, especially in European Russia. Wildlife is more scarce as a result of this, but the roe deer, wolf, fox, and squirrel are very common.
Steppe
The steppe
has long been depicted as the typical Russian landscape. It is a broad
band of treeless, grassy plains, interrupted by mountain ranges,
extending from Hungary across Ukraine, southern Russia, and Kazakhstan before ending in Manchuria.
Most of the Soviet Union's steppe zone was located in the Ukrainian and
Kazakh republics; the much smaller Russian steppe is located mainly
between those nations, extending southward between the Black and Caspian Seas before blending into the increasingly desiccated territory of the Republic of Kalmykia.
In a country of extremes, the steppe zone provides the most favorable
conditions for human settlement and agriculture because of its moderate
temperatures and normally adequate levels of sunshine and moisture. Even
here, however, agricultural yields are sometimes adversely affected by
unpredictable levels of precipitation and occasional catastrophic droughts. The soil is very dry.
Topography
Russia's
mountain ranges are located principally along its continental dip (the
Ural Mountains), along the southwestern border (the Caucasus), along the border with Mongolia (the eastern and western Sayan Mountains and the western extremity of the Altay Mountains), and in eastern Siberia (a complex system of ranges in the northeastern corner of the country and forming the spine of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and lesser mountains extending along the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan).
Russia has nine major mountain ranges. In general, the eastern half of
the country is much more mountainous than the western half, the interior
of which is dominated by low plains. The traditional dividing line
between the east and the west is the Yenisei River valley. In delineating the western edge of the Central Siberian Plateau from the West Siberian Plain, the Yenisey runs from near the Mongolian border northward into the Arctic Ocean west of the Taymyr Peninsula.
The Ural Mountains form the natural boundary between Europe and Asia; the range extends about 2,100 kilometres (1,300 mi) from the Arctic Ocean to the northern border of Kazakhstan. Several low passes provide major transportation routes through the Urals eastward from Europe. The highest
peak, Mount Narodnaya, is 1,894 metres (6,214 ft). The Urals also contain valuable deposits of minerals.
To the east of the Urals is the West Siberian Plain,
stretching about 6 kilometers from west to east and about 670
kilometers from north to south. With more than half its territory below
200 meters in elevation, the plain contains some of the world's largest swamps and floodplains. Most of the plain's population lives in the drier section south of 77 north latitude.
Central Siberian plateau
The region directly east of the West Siberian Plain is the Central Siberian Plateau, which extends eastward from the Yenisei River valley to the Lena River valley. The region is divided into several plateaus, with elevations ranging between 320 and 740 meters; the highest elevation is about 1,800 meters, in the northern Putoran Mountains. The plain is bounded on the south by the Baikal Mountains
system and on the north by the North Siberian Lowland, an extension of
the West Siberian Plain extending into the Taymyr Peninsula on the
Arctic Ocean.
In the mountain system west of Lake Baikal in south-central Siberia, the highest elevations are 3,300 meters in the Western Sayan, 3,200 meters in the Eastern Sayan, and 4,500 meters at Belukha Mountain in the Altay Mountains. The Eastern Sayan reach nearly to the southern shore of Lake Baikal;
at the lake, there is an elevation difference of more than 4,500 meters
between the nearest mountain, 2,840 meters high, and the deepest part
of the lake, which is 1,700 meters below sea level. The mountain systems
east of Lake Baikal are lower, forming a complex of minor ranges and
valleys that reaches from the lake to the Pacific coast. The maximum
height of the Stanovoy Range,
which runs west to east from northern Lake Baikal to the Sea of
Okhotsk, is 2,550 meters. To the south of that range is southeastern
Siberia, whose mountains reach 800 meters. Across the Strait of Tartary from that region is Sakhalin Island, Russia's largest island, where the highest elevation is about 1,700 meters. The small Moneron Island, the site of the shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, is found to its west.
Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
Truly alpine terrain appears in the southern mountain ranges. Between the Black and Caspian seas, the Caucasus Mountains rise to impressive heights, forming a boundary between Europe and Asia. One of the peaks, Mount Elbrus, is the highest point in Europe, at 5,642 meters. The geological structure of the Caucasus extends to the northwest as the Crimean and Carpathian Mountains and southeastward into Central Asia as the Tian Shan and Pamirs. The Caucasus Mountains create an imposing natural barrier between Russia and its neighbors to the southwest, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Northeast Siberia and Kamchatka
Northeastern Siberia, north of the Stanovoy Range, is an extremely mountainous region. The long Kamchatka Peninsula, which juts southward into the Sea of Okhotsk, includes many volcanic peaks, some of which are still active. The highest is the 4,750-meter Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest point in the Russian Far East. The volcanic chain continues from the southern tip of Kamchatka southward through the Kuril Islands chain and into Japan.
Kamchatka also is one of Russia's two centers of seismic activity (the
other is the Caucasus). In 1995, a major earthquake largely destroyed
the oil-processing town of Neftegorsk. Also located in this region is the very large Beyenchime-Salaatin crater.
Crossing of the rivers Chusovaya (tributary) and Kama (main river) near the city of Perm. Ural mountains on the right.
Russia is a water-rich country, divided into twenty watershed districts. The earliest settlements in the country sprang up along the rivers, where most of the urban population continues to live. The Volga,
Europe's longest river, is by far Russia's most important commercial
waterway. Four of the country's thirteen largest cities are located on
its banks: Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Kazan, and Volgograd. The Kama River, which flows west from the southern Urals to join the Volga in the Republic of Tatarstan, is a second key European water system whose banks are densely populated.
Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water,
providing it with one of the world's largest surface-water resources.
However, most of Russia's rivers and streams belong to the Arctic
drainage basin, which lies mainly in Siberia but also includes part of
European Russia. Altogether, 84 percent of Russia's surface water is
located east of the Urals in rivers flowing through sparsely populated
territory and into the Arctic and Pacific oceans. In contrast, areas
with the highest concentrations of population, and therefore the highest
demand for water supplies, tend to have the warmest climates and
highest rates of evaporation. As a result, densely populated areas such as the Don and Kuban River basins north of the Caucasus have barely adequate (or in some cases inadequate) water resources.
Forty of Russia's rivers longer than 1,000 kilometers are east of
the Urals, including the three major rivers that drain Siberia as they
flow northward to the Arctic Ocean: the Irtysh-Ob system (totaling 5,380 kilometers), the Yenisei (4,000 kilometers), and the Lena
(3,630 kilometers). The basins of those river systems cover about eight
million square kilometers, discharging nearly 50,000 cubic meters of
water per second into the Arctic Ocean. The northward flow of these
rivers means that source areas thaw before the areas downstream,
creating vast swamps such as the 48,000-square-kilometer Vasyugan Swamp in the center of the West Siberian Plain. The same is true of other river systems, including the Pechora and the Northern Dvina in Europe and the Kolyma and the Indigirka in Siberia. Approximately 10 percent of Russian territory is classified as swampland.
A number of other rivers drain Siberia from eastern mountain ranges into the Pacific Ocean. The Amur River and its main tributary, the Ussuri,
form a long stretch of the winding boundary between Russia and China.
The Amur system drains most of southeastern Siberia. Three basins drain
European Russia. The Dnieper,
which flows mainly through Belarus and Ukraine, has its headwaters in
the hills west of Moscow. The 1,860-kilometer |Don originates in the Central Russian Upland south of Moscow and then flows into the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea at Rostov-on-Don. The Volga is the third and by far the largest of the European systems, rising in the Valdai Hills west of Moscow and meandering southeastward for 3,510 kilometers before emptying into the Caspian Sea.
Altogether, the Volga system drains about 1.4 million square
kilometers. Linked by several canals, European Russia's rivers long have
been a vital transportation system; the Volga system still carries
two-thirds of Russia's inland water traffic.
Russia's inland bodies of water are chiefly a legacy of extensive glaciation. In European Russia, the largest lakes are Ladoga and Onega northeast of Saint Petersburg, Lake Peipus on the Estonian border, and the Rybinsk Reservoir north of Moscow.
Smaller man-made reservoirs, 160 to 320 kilometers long, are on the
Don, the Kama, and the Volga rivers. Many large reservoirs also have
been constructed on the Siberian rivers; the Bratsk Reservoir northwest of Lake Baikal is one of the world's largest.
The most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake
Baikal, the world's deepest and most capacious freshwater lake. Lake
Baikal alone holds 85% of the freshwater resources of the lakes in
Russia and 20% of the world's total. It extends 632 kilometers in length
and 59 kilometers across at its widest point. Its maximum depth is
1,713 meters. Numerous smaller lakes dot the northern regions of the
European and Siberian plains. The largest of these are lakes Belozero, Topozero, Vygozero, and Ilmen in the European northwest and Lake Chany in southwestern Siberia.
Climate
Lake Baikal. Lake ice is beginning to form at the northernmost end of the lake and in a bay at the middle.
Russia has a largely continental climate because of its sheer size
and compact configuration. Most of its land is more than 400 kilometers
(250 mi) from the sea, and the centre is 3,840 kilometers (2,386 mi)
from the sea. In addition, Russia's mountain ranges, predominantly to
the south and the east, block moderating temperatures from the Indian
and Pacific Oceans, but European Russian and northern Siberia lack such
topographic protection from the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.
Because only small parts of Russia are south of 50° north latitude and more than half of the country is north of 60° north latitude, extensive regions experience six months of snow cover over subsoil that is permanently frozen
to depths as far as several hundred meters. The average yearly
temperature of nearly all of Siberia is below freezing, and the average
for most of European Russia is between 5 and 0 °C (41 and 32 °F). Most
of Russia has only two seasons, summer and winter, with very short
intervals of moderation between them. Transportation routes, including
entire railroad lines, are redirected in winter to traverse rock-solid
waterways and lakes. Some areas constitute important exceptions to this
description, however: the moderate maritime climate of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic Sea is similar to that of the American Northwest; the Russian Far East, under the influence of the Pacific Ocean, has a monsoonal climate that reverses the direction of wind in summer and winter, sharply differentiating temperatures; and a narrow, subtropical band of territory provides Russia's most popular summer resort area on the Black Sea.
In winter, an intense high-pressure system causes winds to blow
from the south and the southwest in all but the Pacific region of the
Russian landmass; in summer, a low-pressure system brings winds from the
north and the northwest to most of the landmass. Russia is the coldest
country of the world (average annual temperature is −5.5 °C (22.1 °F)).
That meteorological combination reduces the wintertime temperature
difference between north and south. Thus, average January temperatures
are −6 °C (21 °F) in Saint Petersburg, −27 °C (−17 °F) in the West Siberian Plain, and −43 °C (−45 °F) at Yakutsk (in east-central Siberia, at approximately the same latitude as Saint Petersburg), while the winter average on the Mongolian
border, whose latitude is some 10° farther south, is barely warmer.
Summer temperatures are more affected by latitude, however; the Arctic
islands average 4 °C (39.2 °F), and the southernmost regions average
20 °C (68 °F). Russia's potential for temperature extremes is typified
by the national record low of −68 °C (−90 °F), recorded at Verkhoyansk in north-central Siberia and the record high of 45 °C (113.0 °F), recorded at several southern stations (Utta).
The long, cold winter has a profound impact on almost every
aspect of life in Russia. It affects where and how long people live and
work, what kinds of crops are grown, and where they are grown (no part
of the country has a year-round growing season). The length and severity
of the winter, together with the sharp fluctuations in the mean summer
and winter temperatures, impose special requirements on many branches of
the economy. In regions of permafrost, buildings must be constructed on
pilings, machinery must be made of specially tempered steel, and
transportation systems must be engineered to perform reliably in
extremely low and extremely high temperatures. In addition, during
extended periods of darkness and cold, there are increased demands for
energy, health care, and textiles.
Because Russia has little exposure to ocean influences, most of the country receives low to moderate amounts of precipitation.
The highest precipitation falls in the northwest, with amounts
decreasing from northwest to southeast across European Russia. The
wettest areas are the small, lush subtropical region adjacent to the
Caucasus and along the Pacific coast: Sochi receives 1,500 millimetres (60 in) per year and the Kuril Islands
typically around 1,000 to 1,500 millimetres (40 to 60 in) - much of
which is snow. Along the Baltic coast, average annual precipitation is
600 millimeters (20 in), and in Moscow it is 525 millimeters (20 in). An
average of only 20 millimeters (0.8 in) falls along the Russian–Kazakh
border, and as little as 15 millimeters (0.6 in) may fall along
Siberia's Arctic coastline. Average annual days of snow cover, a
critical factor for agriculture, depends on both latitude and altitude.
Cover varies from forty to 200 days in European Russia, and from 120 to
250 days in Siberia.
Area and boundaries
Area (excluding Crimea):
Total: 17,098,242 km²
Land: 17,021,900 km²
Water: 79,400 km²
Area - comparative: Slightly larger than twice size of Brazil
Land boundaries:
Total (excluding Crimea): 19,917 km
Kaliningrad
forms the westernmost part of Russia, having no land connection to the
rest of the country. It is bounded by Poland, Lithuania, and the Baltic
Sea.
Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, is claimed and de facto administered by the Russian Federation since Russia annexed it in March 2014. It is recognized as a territory of Ukraine by most of the international community.
Border countries: Table of countries with a land border with Russia:
Country
Length (km)
Norway
195.8
Finland
1,271.8
Estonia
138
Latvia
270.5
Lithuania
266
Poland
204.1
Belarus
1,239
Ukraine
1,925.8
Georgia
875.5
Azerbaijan
372.6
Kazakhstan
7,512.8
Mongolia
3485
China
4,209.3
North Korea
17
Japan
water
US
water
If Abkhazia and South Ossetia are counted as sovereign states:
Country
Length (km)
Abkhazia
255.4
South Ossetia
70
remaining border with Georgia
365
Coastline excluding Crimea: 37,653 km (23,396 mi)
Maritime claims:
Russia holds the greatest reserves of mineral resources than any
country in the world. Though they are abundant, they are in remote areas
with extreme climates, making them expensive to mine. The country is
the most abundant in mineral fuels. It may hold as much as half of the
world's coal reserves and even larger reserves of petroleum. Deposits of coal are scattered throughout the region, but the largest are located in central and eastern Siberia. The most developed fields lie in western Siberia, in the northeastern European region, in the area around Moscow, and in the Urals.
The major petroleum deposits are located in western Siberia and in the
Volga-Urals. Smaller deposits are found throughout the country. Natural gas, a resource of which Russia holds around forty percent of the world's reserves, can be found along Siberia's Arctic coast, in the North Caucasus, and in northwestern Russia. Major iron-ore deposits are located south of Moscow, near the Ukrainian border in the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly;
this area contains vast deposits of iron ore that have caused a
deviation in the Earth's magnetic field. There are smaller deposits in
other parts of the country. The Ural mountains hold small deposits of manganese. Nickel, tungsten, cobalt, molybdenum and other iron alloying elements occur in adequate quantities.
Russia also contains most of the nonferrous metals. Aluminium ores are scarce and are found primarily in the Ural region, northwestern European Russia, and south central Siberia. Copper is more abundant and major reserves are located in the Urals, the Norilsk area near the mouth of the Yenisey in eastern Siberia, and the Kola Peninsula. Another vast deposit located east of Lake Baikal only became exploited when the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad was finished in 1989.
The North Caucasus, far eastern Russia, and the western edge of the Kuznetsk Basin in southern Siberia contain an abundance of lead and zinc ores. These are commonly found along with copper, gold, silver,
and a large amount of other rare metals. The country has one of the
largest gold reserves in the world; mostly in Siberia and the Urals. Mercury deposits can be found in the central and southern Urals and in south central Siberia.
Raw materials are abundant as well, including potassium and magnesiumsalt deposits in the Kama River region of the western Urals. Russia also contains one of the world's largest deposits of apatite
found in the central Kola Peninsula. Rock salt is located in the
southwestern Urals and the southwest of Lake Baikal. Surface deposits of
salt are found in salt lakes along the lower Volga Valley. Sulfur can be found in the Urals and the middle Volga Valley.
Eight percent of the land is used for arable farming, four percent—for permanent pastures, forty-six percent of the land is forests and woodland, and forty-two percent is used for other purposes.
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