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Source: CCTV.com

05-16-2008 11:55

Watch Video:Part 1 >>

As the countries of the Black Sea start to tackle their historic legacy of pollution, they are facing a series of new and unexpected threats. One of them is here, along the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria where, as the country emerges from its eastern bloc isolation, there’s a boom in construction. Old communist resorts like the improbably named Sunny Beaches are being turned into major construction sites as developers cash in on its coastal location.

Lyudmil Ikonomov: In the late '70s it looked completely different. It was small; two-storey hotels which were not closer than 200 metres near to each other. A lot of vegetation, quiet, peaceful, enormous beaches, untouched dunes. It looked just lovely. What worries me personally is that this area will not be able to stand this enormous pressure. If it goes beyond its carry capacity, it means the impact on the environment will be irreversible.

It may already be happening. Construction is creeping, often illegally, along the coast. This holiday complex, slap in the middle of a national park, has become a cause celebre and led to confrontations between developers and environmentalists.

Peta Iankov: The guy was asking what organisation we are from. We said nature conservation organisation. This is a national park, strictly speaking. And the building on my back is completely illegal… it’s not in compliance with the building regulations in the park. Such building activities are unfortunately not very rare along the Black Sea coast and very often in protected areas.

Work has come to a temporary halt. But as the poorly regulated construction boom creeps ever further along the Black Sea coast, it’s rapidly outstripping the ability of the region’s infrastructure to cope with it. Sewage has become a major problem

Bill Parr: Waste water management around the Black Sea is a huge issue really. There are enormous differences between countries. For example Romania and Bulgaria are taking huge steps forward…. Turkey is ten to fifteen years further behind that… In Ukraine the situation is probably of a similar level of order to where Turkey is now… and in Georgia, in effect there isn’t a single sewage treatment works working as it was planned to.

In fact, in Georgia, raw sewage is pumped straight into the sea. Yet ten years ago environmentalists told us they hoped tourism would regenerate the region. Georgia’s current prime minister had particularly high hopes of the coastal wetlands at Kolkheti.

Zurab Nogaideli: The most urgent priority for Georgia is the Kolkheti National Park. It’s a top priority because through tourism it offers a means of solving the whole region’s social and economic problems.

Yet today these wetlands face a different sort of development threat. Some five hundred miles east of Georgia lie the landlocked oil and gas fields of the Caspian. As these are opened up, a major part of the oil is exported by oil tankers through Georgia to the Black Sea. Much of it is destined to arrive here at a brand new oil terminal currently under construction. What disturbs marine scientists is that it is right in the middle of the coastal wetlands.

Laurence Mee: The Kolkheti wetlands is a very special area because it is a unique place for migrating birds… and it’s a place that isn’t only fascinating for biologists to look at, it’s a wonderful place for people to see nature…

Green campaigners have moved in to the area to canvas local opinion. Their fear is that an expanding oil industry could lead to serious problems of pollution.

Laurence Mee: Oil is a dirty business, one of our concerns in Georgia, as in other countries in the Black Sea, is that the pace of developments is outstripping the ability of governments to contain their impacts, to minimise the risks, to take those necessary measures to protect the environment and the human population when things actually go wrong.

But energy analysts see oil as providing jobs and revenue and the image of a dirty, polluting, industry as a gross exaggeration.

Chris Skrebowski: There’s absolutely nothing inevitable about oil being polluting. If you look at a new terminal you’ll find there is an immense amount of safety equipment is built in right from the start to gauge any escape of gas, any escape of liquid to take any appropriate shuts down and safety action. A lot of stuff is designed so that in effect it’s fail safe, so that even if something goes a little wrong no harm results from it.

Whatever the truth, if the region is to prosper, it will need to ensure it doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past. In an attempt to avoid this happening the United Nations Development Programme has teamed up with the private sector to raise the level of environmental awareness.

Mahmood Ayub: The government has its role but it’s not a job that the government alone can do so we are looking for partnerships. The UNDP is looking for partnerships with the private sector.

It recently signed a pioneering five year partnership with the Coca-Cola Company called ‘Every Drop Matters’.

Mahmood Ayub: Over the next five years the project will encourage public awareness… and we will also be encouraging the governments and local communities to build waste water treatment plants and other appropriate technologies.

But whatever the initiative achieves it will be too late to avoid fundamental changes in the Black Sea’s ecology. One of the most significant is the arrival of a invasive species of snail called Rapana. Gradually, over a period of years, it’s spread and permanently altered the balance of the sea’s marine life.

Bill Parr: These are Japanese sea snails… first made their appearance in the Black Sea in the 1940s and they are now a major source of income for Turkey.

The snail has become so important scientists are now looking for sustainable ways of harvesting it.

The once rare seahorse is now becoming common again

Bill Parr: This is a new method of catching rapana. Existing methods are one scuba diving and two dredging. Dredging obviously that destroys the whole of the benthic ecosystem – really not a good idea from an ecological point of view. The diving has obvious health and safety issues for the people involved. This is a much more sustainable method of catching these animals. The pots are baited with anchovy or mussel. They are left for a day or two, the rapana are attracted to the bait and they are pulled back out of the water. It’s obviously replaced the original mussel industry, the original oyster industry, the clam industry and it’s just a great example of how man is adapting to the changing ecosystem.

For the Black Sea there will never be a return to the environment of the 1960s and '70s. But with care and attention it could once again bring joy and satisfaction to the people who live around it.

Bill Parr: We can either go back to the old days or we can take another step forward. Everything is to play for.

 

Editor:Yang