In this new edition, the progress made in the last decade to solve the environmental problems described in the first edition is assessed. The attempts to bring environmental legislation into line with West European norms is also described. Environmental Problems of East-Central Europe looks at air and water pollution, modern farming, water supplies, waste management and landscape protection. These topics are placed within economic, social and political profiles, as spending on a clean environment must be reconciled with welfare spending and the safeguarding of jobs, European Union assistance, civil society and the work of environmental NGOs are also discussed. All of these matters are considered within the context of the wider geographical area and then by each individual country, including the previously communist states lying to the west of the Soviet Union (now with the former federal states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia broken up into seven different entities) and a review of the former Soviet Union with particular reference to the Baltic States. Environmental Problems in East-Central Europe provides a wealth of up-to-date reference material, with a vast amount of supporting literature on environmental conditions and the functioning of civil society and a map of each country. The environment is being taken seriously by them all, such is the influence of the Rio sustainability agenda in general and the EU environmental 'acquis' in particular. The book reveals that Eastern Europe is not a blighted area, but in some respects has a higher biodiversity than Western Europe. Although there is enormous waste and inefficiency in energy use, people actually consume relatively little and the East therefore has some lessons for the West in terms of managing on the bases of 'fair share' of the earth's resources.

Providing a comprehensive, descriptive analysis of a wide range of Central and East European countries, this updated paperback edition offers an invaluable study of pollution problems and effects on the quality of life. Revisions include: * new chapter on Slovakia, demonstrating the implementation of a number of practical measures which have made a considerable impact on environmental problems that arose under communism and have been tackled during the transition. * new concluding chapter which provides an important overview of recent developments in Eastern Europe and discusses topical issues such as health hazards and methods of charging polluters for environmental damage.

Environmental Transitions is a detailed and comprehensive account of the environmental changes in Central and Eastern Europe, both under state socialism and during the period of transition to capitalism. The change in politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s allowed an opportunity for a rapid environmental clean up, in an area once considered one of the most environmentally devastated regions on earth. The book illustrates how transformations after 1989 have brought major environmental improvements, as well as new environmental problems. It shows how environmental policy, economic change and popular support for environmental movements, have specific and changing geographies associated with them. Environmental Transitions addresses a large number of topics, including the historical geographical analysis of the environmental change, health impacts of environmental degradation, the role of environmental issues during the anti-communist revolutions, legislative reform and the effects of transition on environmental quality after 1989. Environmental Transitions contains detailed case studies from the region, which illustrate the complexity of environmental issues and their intimate relationship with political and economic realities. It gives theoretically informed ideas for understanding environmental change in the context of the political economy of state socialism and post-communist transformations, drawing on a wide body of literature from West, Central and Eastern Europe.

In the conflict between logging as a material resource and preservation the forests are becoming depleted throughout the world and this depletion is aggravated by the effects of air pollution. The concept of utilization is thus now being expanded to include vital societal values. These issues are nowhere more acute than in Central and Eastern Europe, where obsolete, poorly maintained industrial plant is common. Air pollutant levels are so high that one area has been called the Black Triangle. Timber is required in this region as a building material and logging for fuelwood is practised, giving rise to a complex linkage between industry, energy supply, deforestation, agriculture, value-added forestry products and economic development. This book presents current information on national and regional issues relating to environmental threats to forest land, focusing on: ecology, environment and science; forest ownership and management; forest product utilization; government and public agency roles. The recommendations, action items and the human network needed for regional-level implementation are detailed in `situation', `position' and `state of the art' papers. The final objective is to develop a plan of action to help abate the negative impacts while sustaining or expanding the forests, the economy and the energy sufficiency of the region.