Russian Nature Exploring the Environmental Consequences of Societal Change

About this book

Jonathan Oldfield provides a detailed assessment of the changing relationship between Russian society and the wider environment since the fall of the Soviet Union. Through this, he highlights the need to critically evaluate assumptions regarding the post-Soviet environment, in order to move beyond generalization and engage meaningfully with the particularities of Russia's contemporary environmental situation. The book begins by focusing on the nature of Soviet environmental legacies as a necessary backdrop to the remainder of the study. This is followed by a general examination of the relationship between economic change and pollution output during the course of the 1990s. Further chapters provide in depth analysis of recent legislative and policy developments in the area of environmental protection and an exploration of emerging pollution and environmental quality trends at both the national and regional level. In addition, the book highlights pressures that are related to Russia's engagement with the global economy.

Contents

Introduction; The Soviet environmental legacy; Economic restructuring and the wider environment; Governing the environment: the place of the environment in Russia's political-administrative structure; The changing state of the Russian environment; Concluding remarks; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

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Biography

Jonathan Oldfield is Lecturer in the Human Geography of Post-Communist States, in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and is Associate Member of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, both at the University of Birmingham, UK.