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Home , Alexey Stakhanov, Amvrosiivka, Debaltseve, Dobropillia, Dokuchaievsk, Donets

COAL LAND Faces of Coalland – Faces of Donetsk Copyright © 2011, Zoï Environment Network and UNEP/GRID-Arendal ISBN: 978-82-7701-090-8 Printed by Graphi 4 – Global Publishing Services, France

This report is also available at http://en- Disclaimer: The views expressed in this report rin.grida.no/donetsk together with more are those of the authors and do not necessarily materials produced within Assessment and reflect the views of UNEP, ENVSEC partner organizations or their member-countries. The capacity-building for managing environment designations employed and the presentations do and security risks in and Salihorsk not imply the expression of any opinion on the regions, a project by the Environment and part of the organizations concerning the legal Security Initiative implemented by UNEP/ status of any country, territory, or area of GRID-Arendal and Zoï Environment Net- its authority, or delineation of its frontiers and boundaries. Mention of a commercial company work with the financial support from Cana- or product does not imply endorsement by the UNEP promotes da, Sweden, Norway and UNEP’s GEO Cit- cooperating partners. We regret any errors or ies programme. www.envsec.org omissions that may unwittingly have been made. environmentally sound practices globally and in its own activities. This report is printed on 100% recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks and other eco- friendly practices. Our distribution policy aims to reduce UNEP’s carbon footprint. LAND Faces of Donetsk

TEXT MAPS AND GRAPHICS TRANSLATION CONTRIBUTIONS AND REVIEW Alex Kirby Matthias Beilstein Irina Melnikova Nickolai Denisov Christina Stuhlberger Nadya Kopatko Otto Simonett MEDIA FEATURES Irina Melnikova Oleg Lystopad ILLUSTRATIONS COPYEDITING Dmytro Averin Karen Gambaryan Maria Libert Harry Foster Philip Peck Alesya Chumakova Elena Santer Julia Maklyuk PHOTOGRAPHY PRODUCTION Laura Rio Alban Kakulya Christina Stuhlberger Foreword by Nickolai Denisov, ENVSEC regional desk officer for Eastern ,

As a doctoral student in , I business and political elite. In the re- did not see much of my gion itself the environment remains advisor. One of ’s first envi- both a bottleneck and a solution for ronmental ministers and the deputy improving people’s lives: not an un- prime-minister of the important concern given Donetsk’s after the 1991 coup d’état, he sud- special place on ’s agenda. denly had to deal with a mountain of problems with the decaying union. In this publication we have tried to Among the first were angry miners collect data, thoughts and impressions from Donbas banging their helmets from several years of cooperation be- in the centre of Moscow. As in many tween the Environment and Security other places, miners were seen as initiative and the people and authori- the vanguard of political aspirations ties of Donetsk. Through this coop- – and the reflection of growing des- eration we wanted to bring solutions, peration in the industrial badlands. which have worked in other parts of Europe, ranging from the Mining for Readers interested in history may Closure approach to providing citi- remember and Ni- zens and decision-makers with under- kita Kruschev, who both started their standable and timely information. We careers in Donetsk. Football fans wit- are also determined to make this infor- nessed the spectacular appearance of mation clear and visible through maps, Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2009 UEFA photographs, art and journalism. Cup Final. Today the coal-producing and industrial region of Donetsk is Not least, we want to reveal Donetsk Ukraine’s major centre of gravity, in all its diversity, with different faces, supplying the country with industrial seen from the inside and the outside, output, tax revenue, pollution, and its beyond just coal and football.

4 Contents

4 Foreword 6 Donetsk at first sight 11 Four minutes past midnight 12 The nature of Donbas 14 The other face of Donbas 17 Photographs by Alban Kakulya

This publication was initiated by the Environment and Security Initiative (ENV­ 29 Industry and its footprint SEC), a partnership between UNDP, UNEP, OSCE, NATO, UNECE and REC. 34 Death by suffocation 36 There is coal but no happiness 40 Waste tips need flowers This report was produced within the who participated in the media train- framework of Assessment and Capacity- ing organized by ENVSEC. The articles 41 Mining for a better environment Building for Managing Environment and featured here were produced during the Security Risks in Donbas and Salihorsk workshops and have been published in 43 References regions, a UNEP-led ENV­SEC project various media across the region. implemented in Ukraine and Belarus to address environmental risk from In addition, this report presents the hazardous activities, and improve envi- findings of the ENVSEC risk assess- ronmental management and awareness. ment analysis, Risk Assessment Consid- Project activities included technical as- erations in the Donetsk Basin – Mine sessments, training and analysis of min- Closure and Spoil Dumps, highlighting ing sites, but also workshops and train- the need for solid risk assessment and ing sessions for journalists to build up the potential sources of risk associ- their communication skills on environ- ated with mining activities in Donetsk. mental topics relevant to their region. Based on these findings, an action plan This publication presents the findings is proposed suggesting how these issues and results of both parts of the project. It can be addressed by decision-makers offers an introduction to the issues fac- and practitioners alike. ing the Donetsk region, mainly focusing on environmental challenges. The text is This publication uses original pho- complemented by media stories written tographs by Alban Kakulya taken in by journalists from Belarus and Ukraine Donetsk in May 2010.

5 Donetsk at first sight

Close to the centre of Donetsk stands Soligorsk a huge steelworks, Donetsk Metallur- B E L A R U S R U S S I A gical Plant, known locally as Donet- V Brest is Pinsk Pripyat tu Mozyr skstal. In a brave attempt to make la this industrial behemoth less of an P O L A N D Kovel B a outrage to the senses the plant’s own- u n h s Res. e ers have built a small pleasure gar- D Rossosh den at the entrance, complete with a Rzeszow Kyiv D y n k k pond on which live two swans. The s ie s p r t e e e v r n

e swans’ plumage is black. The local o S U K R A I N E D humorists enjoy telling credulous Res. Khmelnytsky visitors that the birds were snowy Ivano- Vinnitsia Kremenchuk Frankivsk Slovyansk white when they arrived, but quickly D nie Dnipropetrovsk D o n b a s changed colour as the dust and pollu- isza ste Kirovohrad T r Donetsk P Kryvyy Rih Donetsk tion of the plant enveloped them. In r S Debrecen u o t Balti u Baia Mare th fact they are Australian black swans, e Suceava M O L D O V A rn Rostov-on-Don Oradea B Res. designed that way by nature. But eve- uh Iasi Chisinau ryone agrees it would be a shame to Cluj-Napoca Bacau spoil a good story. S i Mu re res R O M A N I A t Odesa S e a o f A z o v

The city of Donetsk has a long pedi- Sibiu Brasov gree. It began life as a Cossack Kuban C r i m e a Drobeta-Turnu D late in the 17th century, and by 1820 anub Severin O Pitesti e

l small-scale had start- t Novorossiysk ed. The city proper was originally Craiova Constanta B l a c k S e a called Yuzovka, after John Hughes, the Welshman who is credited with founding it in 1869. In time more The Soviet Union later developed the population falling from 507,000 to years meant that for every German skilled workers and technicians ar- industry enormously. In the sec- 175,000 as the Nazi invaders came soldier killed 100 inhabitants were rived from Britain to expand the ond world war the city (then known close to destroying it entirely. Col- put to death, and one for every po- mines and build a steel mill. as Stalino) suffered grievously, the lective responsibility in those grim liceman killed.

6 The death of Stalin and the gradual of driving home their demands for a move towards less totalitarian rule better life: health care, accommoda- from Moscow saw yet another name- tion, recreation and leisure facilities, change, this time to Donetsk (Nikita pensions – and of course more pay. Khrushchev was a local boy). Peace The more the miners were owed in brought gradual improvements for back pay, the oftener they gathered in the miners, the industrial elite of Red Square. Nor was Moscow their Donbas* (the coal-mining region only target, as Oleg Varfolomeyev round Donetsk, along the riv- wrote in 2002:* er). They became one of the highest- paid categories in the USSR. When “Miners’ marches on Kyiv have almost the 1990s dawned they were influ- become a tradition of the Ukrainian ential actors in the social turmoil summer. They block the main streets, which was engulfing the dying Soviet sit down in front of the government Union, travelling to Moscow to bang building, bang their helmets and their safety helmets on the pavement plastic bottles on the pavement, get outside the Kremlin as a vivid way promised their wages, and then return home. After some time, wage arrears *Donets Basin, also known as Donbas or Don- begin to accumulate anew.” bass (Ukrainian: Донецький басейн, usually abbreviated to Донбас; translit. Donetskyi ba- sin or Donbas; Russian: Донецкий бассейн, The miners of Donbas had earned likewise usually shortened to Донбасс; trans- their laurels the hard way, and few lit. Donetskiy basin or Donbas), is a histori- cal, economic and cultural region of eastern harder than Alexey Stakhanov, Ukraine. It combines three (provinces) the eponymous Stakhanovist. He in the east of the country: the easternmost part worked in a coal mine in the Don- of the around the city bas town of Kadiyivka, and on 31 of (the so-called “Western Donbas”), the northern and central parts of Donetsk August 1935 was reported to have Oblast (the southern part is Pryazovia) and the mined a record 102 tonnes in 5 southern part of (the northern hours and 45 minutes, 14 times part is Slobozhanschyna). The city of Donetsk is considered the unofficial capital of Donbas. Source: Wikipedia *Transitions Online 5 December 2002

7 more than his assigned quota. On Gross National Income (GNI)

19 September Stakhanov is credited per capita with setting a new record by mining in current US dollars 227 tonnes in the space of one shift. He was hailed in the mass media as 12000 a model for others and was featured Belarus 10000 on the cover of Time magazine.

Kadiyivka, understandably, is now 8000 called Stakhanov. Ukraine

6000 Ukraine became independent in 1991, and the bubble burst. Condi- 4000 tions rapidly deteriorated as post- Soviet industrial output fell. But the 2000 social infrastructure and the very survival of Donbas still depend on 0 its heavy industry, handicapped by 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 technology and attitudes inherited Note: Purchasing Power Parity method. Source: World Bank. Development Indicators from the Soviet era as its traditional database Produced by Zoi Environment Network, January 2011 markets collapsed. Donetsk still lives by steel and coal, as no visitor could doubt. Once settled in your hotel, if hammer, and its beloved soccer you open the window you quickly teams are the FC Shaktar (the Min- shut it again, settling for a stuffy at- ers) Donetsk and FC Metalurh (the mosphere and the inevitable head- Metallurgists) Donetsk. Football, ache rather than the stream of sour incidentally, is the way to many a air which pours in from outside. Ukrainian heart. Donetsk, together with several other in Ukraine A giant statue of a miner holding a and , is the host of Euro lump of coal greets you as you en- 2012 (the UEFA European Football ter the city, its emblem is a miner’s Championship).

8 Regions of Ukraine Rank by Rank by Rank by Overall rank Population in life expectancy level of Gross Regional by human index Product Index development index

Kyiv 1 1 1 1

Lviv Oblast 4 5 13 2

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast 5 10 20 13 ...... Zaporizhia Oblast 20 20 5 11

Odesa Oblast 21 4 8 8

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast 22 9 3 7

Donetsk Oblast 23 18 2 9 Byelorussians 24 14 22 23

Mykolaiv Oblast 25 21 11 18 Others* Luhansk Oblast 26 24 12 20

Kherson Oblast 27 13 18 22 * includes Jewish, Tatar, Armenian, Azeri and Georgian

Source: (Donetsk Oblast): Donetsk Oblast Statistical Office, 2007 Source: State of the Environment Report for Donetsk Oblast, 2007 Produced by Zoi Environment Network, May 2010 Produced by Zoi Environment Network, January 2011

Today the Donetsk region (the name the steel sector, though this has so far sustained such a body blow from the production dropped by a precipitous is used variously for the city itself, been driven by central policy and a world economic crisis as the indus- one-third throughout Ukraine, in the the oblast – the administrative re- favourable world market, not by any trial heartland of . Oblast it fell by half against the pre- gion around it – and for Donbas as a structural reforms. Orders for steel and other metals vious year. Donetsk makes up 10 per whole) is the most densely-populated have almost completely dried up cent of Ukraine’s population and pro- part of Ukraine. It accounts for a third Yet problems remain. The region is and prices have plummeted. In the vides 20 per cent of its GDP, a fact of Ukraine’s export revenue, thanks undeniably one of Ukraine’s wealthi- Donetsk Oblast, home to 4.6 mil- to which local politicians often draw mainly to the metalworking indus- est, responsible for the lion’s share of lion people, around 80 per cent of the attention, arguing that the region’s try. The growth of the region’s GDP the country’s industrial output and economy is tied to the metals indus- wealth should be spent there instead since 1999 has been mostly related to GDP, but few areas of Europe have try. In January 2009, when industrial of feeding the rest of the country.

9 Most people in the Oblast (and more level, low as that itself is. The leading generally in Donbas) speak Russian, cause of death is diseases of the cir- not Ukrainian. Almost 50 per cent culatory system, with cancer the sec- Krasnyi Lyman of the people who live in the city of ond. One local journalist says heavy Donetsk are classed as ethnically industry’s malign footprint stretches Siv. Donets Russian. much further even than that: “The World Health Organisation says air Despite the economic buffeting pollution shortens the life of every Artemivsk Ukraine has suffered recently, a num- European by an average of eight ber of Donbas coal mines and the months. Here in Donetsk the figure Donetskstal steel mill are still hard at is eight years.” Dzerzhynsk work. Yet where you might have ex- Dymytrov pected progress, there has been very Pollution from fixed points like Krasnoarmiisk little. Two decades after independ- mines and steel plants is now being ence coal mining remains a dirty and augmented by growing traffic ex- Vo Kuakhove very dangerous job, and now pays far haust fumes as vehicle ownership and vcha less than in Soviet times. The wife of a use steadily increase. Many Donetsk Marinka Donetsk Vel. Novosilka M retired Donetskstal worker is quoted residents use public transport – when i us in 2008:* they can. One frustrated traveller Komsomolske said: “The metro, alas, remains only “The temperature in the open-hearth in the planning stage, although the 1 000 000 furnaces is almost 2,000°C. But the money already spent is a lot. Nobody 800 000 only protection the workers have is a can understand why…” s iu 400 000 lm felt suit with thick gloves, special boots a 200 000 K and a helmet with black goggles.” But Donetsk makes valiant attempts to remind you that there is more Population in urban centres Even beyond the mines and the mills to it than industry alone. It used to 1 5 50 themselves, it is not a healthy place to be called the City of Roses, and has Mariupol Yalta live. The average life expectancy for now set about replanting a million Population density men in Donetsk is between 53 and 55 rose bushes in its parks. A city of (inhabitants per km²) years, five years below the national grime, pollution and ill-health, yes Population in Donetsk Oblast – but Donetsk is human enough to remember that its citizens need to Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 *Natalia Huzeva, Selyanska , Kyiv, Source: LandScan Global Population Database 2007, Oak Ridge, TN, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (→ www.ornl.gov/sci/landscan); Ukraine 12.12.2008 dream as well. World Gazetteer 2010 (→ www.world-gazetteer.com)

10 Four minutes past midnight Karen Gambaryan, Donetsk 10 October 2008 Krasnyi Lyman

Sloviansk Siversk Siv. Donets I am waiting for angels. They will it? After all when on one occasion of money and in winter the radiators definitely come today. At four min- they said on TV that many people are always cold at home. I asked the “I like our plant Kramatorsk utes past midnight. Why are you were dying of cancer every day, some guy if he could heat up the radiators though. The sky above Druzhkivka Artemivsk smiling like that? Is something the of the neighbours came and told us in my home, but he said he couldn’t. it has got a wonderful matter with me? Auntie Valya from next-door had I asked why. He looked at me, smiled Kostiantynivka died of cancer. And when on TV as if something was wrong with me purple glow.” Dobropillia Yes, I am waiting for angels. Every they warned us about the big R-E-L- and said the baddie called Zozo Pow- Dzerzhynsk Horlivka Debaltseve night before going to bed I set my E-A-S-E at our plant I wasn’t allowed er would not allow it. It would not smile I love so much. But I hope that Dymytrov alarm for 23:50 so as not to miss out onto the balcony. They wouldn’t be P-R-O-F-I-T-A-B-L-E for him. I’ve when the space angels come I will Novohrodivka Krasnoarmiisk Yenakiieve their arrival. But I don’t need the even let me open the window. I like remembered the name of the bad- be able to persuade them to R-E-C-O- Avdiivka Yasynuvata Selydove Zhdanivka alarm clock. I’ve got used to wak- our plant though. Especially at night die so when the space angels come V-E-R Tanya’s husband. So that she Makiivka Shakhtarsk ing up a minute earlier and switch when I wake up to see the angels. and clean up the planet I’ll ask them can smile again. They do R-E-C-O-V- Vo Kuakhove it off so as not to wake up my folks The sky above it has got a wonderful to leave the dirtiest place for Zozo E-R air and water, don’t they? Why vcha Khartsyzk Torez Snizhne Marinka Donetsk at home. The truth is that if the an- purple glow. And after the big R-E-L- Power and not to heat his radiators. shouldn’t they recover Tanya’s hus- Vel. Novosilka gels come they’ll wake everybody up E-A-S-E all the puddles that are usu- Why are you smiling like that? Is band? And Auntie Valya from next- M Amvrosiivka i Dokuchaievsk us anyway. Even those who sleep deeply. ally grey and dull became wonder- something the matter with me? door? And all the others? Why are Komsomolske So everybody can see how they are fully red and carrot-coloured. Why you smiling like that? Is something Volnovakha going to save us. are you smiling like that? Is there The other day they said on TV that a the matter with me? 1 000 000 something the matter with me? lot of methane had been released at They will come in a big sparkling the mine and exploded. Right away They will definitely come, just wait 800 000 starship which they used to save Once we were taken to visit the mine Tanya screamed behind the wall. and see. At four minutes past mid- s iu 400 000 lm more than one world. I saw them where one big guy showed us the ma- Tanya who recently got out into the night. When the national anthem has a 200 000 K do that on TV. They cleaned up – chine which can catch gas. The gas yard in a beautiful white dress. Lots finished on TV. And when the sky cleaned up everything, the air, the is called methane. It just happens of people gave her flowers and threw has got a wonderful purple glow. We Population in urban centres water. And everything started grow- there is a lot of it under the ground. sweets and . But somehow she will hit the streets in rubber suits Novoazovsk 1 5 50 ing again on the planet. They had When men drill to dig out some coal, didn’t pick them up. Neither she, nor with hoods and gas masks, just like Mariupol beautiful white clothes too with the the gas leaks away. When there is a the guy who was next to her. I was on the planet the space angels have Yalta Population density letter “A” on the shoulder because lot, it explodes. And then people die. told that Tanya was getting M-A-R- already saved. And I will step for- (inhabitants per km²) they were space angels. They said But the guy’s machine catches this R-I-E-D to this guy and taking his ward, take off my gas mask and say that on TV. But when I talk about methane and mixes it with air, so it last name. But now Tanya can’t be as if on TV: “Our miserable planet Population in Donetsk Oblast it everybody smiles as if something can be used to power cars. It could with her husband because he used welcomes you! We hope you can save was wrong with me and tells me I also be used to heat the water in ra- to work at the mine which explod- us!” And surely they will help us! Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 shouldn’t believe everything they say diators for almost nothing. I bright- ed. That’s why he died. Tanya will Why are you smiling like that? Is Source: LandScan Global Population Database 2007, Oak Ridge, TN, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (→ www.ornl.gov/sci/landscan); World Gazetteer 2010 (→ www.world-gazetteer.com) on TV. But why shouldn’t I believe ened up at that as we don’t have a lot no longer smile with her wonderful something the matter with me?

11 The nature of Donbas

Donbas has a temperate continental in Donbas is 350 to 600 climate with clearly-defined seasons. mm annually. This is not enough: Sea of There are big differences between spring, the end of summer and autumn winter and summer temperatures. are arid, and the rains are intense, local- The Donetsk Oblast borders on since the dawn of history. By the The average January temperature is ized and brief. Water is a big problem the , which is a shal- end of the 19th century more than –4°C to –6°C. In some parts of the for Donbas. Where industry is con- low branch of the , con- 2,660 ships, with a total capacity Oblast it reaches –7°C. During the centrated and population highest, daily nected to it by the . of 362,000 tonnes, docked in its coldest winters the temperature can demand is high. For example, produc- The large that flow into the harbours every year. At the time fall to –36°C, while the maximum in ing one tonne of coal takes half a cubic Sea of Azov are the Don and the the Russian merchant fleet on the summer is 40°C to 42°C. metre of water, one tonne of steel needs Kuban. The Sea of Azov now lies Sea of Azov numbered 1,210 ves- 25 m3, and a tonne of sulphuric acid within the borders of Ukraine and sels. To this day it remains a major Observations show that climate 90 m3. Donbas gulps down 55 per cent the Russian Federation. transport route. change is already having an effect in of Ukraine’s total water consumption. the region, notably on the time of for- Guaranteeing supplies to the area is a se- The sea received its current name On 11 November 2007 four vessels mation and duration of permanent rious problem, so Donbas has to rely on from the town founded by the – the Volnogorsk, Nakhichevan, snow cover and on the duration of a number of large reservoirs. Donetsk (a nomadic people who in- Kovel and Hadji- – sank in seasons. Cold winters and persistently Oblast itself is one of Ukraine’s most habited a shifting area north of the the Kerch Strait near the Russian hot summers combined with increas- freshwater-deficient regions. The large Black Sea) in 1067. They called it port of Kavkaz in a severe storm. ing precipitation have inevitable con- mineral reserves in the Donetsk coal Azak, which later became Azov. The Six vessels broke adrift and ran 2 sequences for agriculture. Accord- basin have resulted in rapid industrial sea covers an area of 38,000 km , aground. Two tankers – Volgon- ing to the Oblast administration the development here – much of it need- with an average depth of 8 metres, a eft-139 and Volgoneft-123 – were Donetsk region urgently needs to im- ing plenty of water – and a consider- maximum depth of 14 metres, and damaged. About 1,300 tonnes of 3 plement a regional action plan, both able concentration of population. That a water volume of 320 km . The fuel oil and 6,800 tonnes of sul- to reduce the region’s own emissions means there is now an acute shortage of sea has been a major thoroughfare phur spilled into the Sea of Azov. of greenhouse gases and to adapt to high-quality fresh water for households, Source: Donetsk Oblast State of the Environment Report, 2007 the impacts of climate change. farmers, industry, and other users.

12 Flora and Fauna in Donetsk Oblast

2 Settlement area Krasnyi Lyman Vegetation ets 2 . Don Siv Cultivated lands on the place of herb-rich feather- Sloviansk Siversk 3 grass 2 Priorities for improving the quality of 1 Cultivated lands in the place of herb-grass steppe Kramatorsk natural water in Donetsk Oblast: Cultivated lands in the place of herb-grass and 1 Druzhkivka stony steppe 1. Decrease surface water pollution 1 Artemivsk in the region due to sulphates and 6 Pine forest and broad-leaved pine forests on Kostiantynivka terraces and cultivated land in their place Dobropillia sewage. 1 1 Oak forest Dzerzhynsk 2. Improve the ecological state of the 8 Dymytrov 2 Floodplain meadows and cultivated land in rivers , Kazennyi Torets and Krasnoarmiisk Horlivka Debaltseve their place 4 7 Kalchyk; apply strict measures to Novohrodivka 4 Yenakiieve 2 Sandbar vegeatation with meadow and Selydove control waste water discharge into the Yasynuvata 1 saltwort communities Avdiivka Zhdanivka river system by industrial enterprises. Makiivka Vo Shakhtarsk Places of release for acclimatizing animals vcha 3. Control mine water discharge into Kuakhove Khartsyzk Torez 5 Donetsk Snizhne 1 Roe-deer the rivers Kazennyi Torets, Vovchia 6 1 2 6 Marinka 2 Elk and Kalmius. 1 Vel. Novosilka M Amvrosiivka iu 3 Beaver 4. Reactivate hydrochemical moni- Dokuchaievsk s toring sites closed in 1995–2000 on Komsomolske Location for rare animals 1 7 the region’s rivers. Volnovakha 4 Steppe polecat 5. Deploy administrative measures to 5 White stork reduce discharge of polluted waste 6 Sparrow hawk waters by the region’s industrial en- s 4 iu lm a 7 Steppe viper terprises. K 6. Decrease municipal and agricul- 8 Long-eared owl 1 tural run-off into water bodies. Mariupol Novoazovsk 2 7. Develop an automated system Seagull, plover, duck, tern, stilt, dove, gannet and network for monitoring the 4 Yalta region’s surface and ground water Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental bodies of the region. Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010

13 The other face of Donbas Oleg Lystopad for Selyanska pravda, Kyiv, Ukraine 24 July 2009 (abridged translation)

Ask somebody what comes into their The leaders of the Oblast acknowl- shafts and piled up with waste rock? hundred years ago bears also used minds when they think about Don- edge that the destruction of wild Well, they can be found! A national to live here. Now this is all history. bas and the usual answer is: “Coal nature for the sake of industrial or nature park has been established (the Even rivers have disappeared, with tips, mines, plants, dust, smoke, agricultural land development has first in the east of Ukraine), and there nearly 20 lost in the past 350 years. stuffiness”. However, Donbas, and reached a critical point in Donetsk is also a diverse network of regional Donetsk Oblast in particular have Oblast. The area of flora and fauna landscape parks and other protected White on green and blue another face: charming , habitats has declined significantly areas. Let’s have a closer look at some These colours are from the Kleban quiet rivers fringed by forests in ra- and as a result the diversity and of these natural wonders! Byk regional landscape park. The vines and gullies, coastal sand spits health of many species has changed. main area of this park is located with hundreds of wonderful birds Therefore the establishment of na- Green on white along the banks of the reservoir on flying over them. ture park areas is especially impor- These particular colours have been the Bychok river. This area places tant for the Oblast. chosen by nature to embroider the many conflicting demands on local These green and blue spots are scenery of the Svyati Gory national natural resources. For example, the quite rare on the map of Donetsk Are you wondering where life could be nature park. The white chalk moun- power engineers do not agree with and that makes them even more found in areas of the Oblast covered tains on the high right bank of the the demands of nature conserva- valuable. “Donetsk Oblast makes up by quarries, ground away by mine Severskij Donetsk river used to be tion regarding water use. The fish- just 4.4 per cent of the land area of covered by pine trees. Nowadays ery would also like to introduce its Ukraine but has 10 per cent of the “Until just 150 to 200 these can only be found in a few own rules for the use of water. Due country’s population and 23 per cent places, most of them having been to such conflicts of interest, the of the industrial potential concen- years ago, there used to cut down. A 600-year-old oak tree lack of administrative coordination trated in the province. We are sub- be oak trees with girths which stands 30 metres high, two and joined-up thinking and action, jected to a significant anthropogenic of six metres, and pine metres in girth, has been preserved the water level of the reservoir has and technogenic load, and intensive on the remaining plain of the dropped significantly. use of natural resources which has trees of four metres. Even river, a monument to the previous a negative impact on the state of the rivers have disappeared, mighty local forests. Until just 150 The local wonder is the petrified environment,” according to the heads with nearly 20 lost in the to 200 years ago, there used to be araucaria trees which are 200 to 250 of the and oak trees with girths of six metres, million years old. There used to be the Oblast State Administration. past 350 years.” and pine trees of four metres. Five tens of thousands of them in Kleban

14 “If at least a minimum of park I was absolutely sure that this of nature are protected by law. Docu- cial state security agency watches bird haven has been preserved as a ments making a scientific case for over 85 per cent of these protected nature is not preserved result of the devoted efforts of the the establishment of nature reserves areas, a much higher proportion than then the delicate balance park specialists. on six areas of steppe land were pre- the average for Ukraine. of natural processes sented to the State Agency for Nature Looking through binoculars at the Protection three years ago. A public “Time demands further actions on would go head over heels great black-headed gull (which is on organization, the Kyiv Environmen- our behalf”, the Governor and the and we would all cry the Red List of Threatened Species), tal and Cultural Centre, produced the Head of the Donetsk Oblast Council bitter tears. They seem sea gulls, terns and the clumsy gi- proposals free of charge. The Oblast said recently. “We need to improve ant pelican I thought that bird lov- also has other potential opportuni- the management of the territories to understand this in the ers from rich and civilized countries ties for nature conservation. and facilities of the nature protection Donetsk Oblast.” would pay a lot to see this spectacle. fund; ensure protection of valuable However, commerce is not the main But still, I would like to finish on natural landscapes using environ- Byk but less than 200 are now left. task of such parks. Their main func- a positive note. At the moment, the mental education and economic le- The others have been stolen to deco- tion is the protection of birds, sand network of protected natural areas vers and develop the infrastructure.” rate rich private houses. Fortunately spits and the shellfish of the coastal covers more than 3 per cent of the no one has yet invented a way of zone. If at least a minimum of na- total territory of the Oblast. Pro- It is obvious that expansion and con- stealing the local steppe itself, for ture is not preserved then the deli- tected areas occupy four times the servation of the nature and reserve otherwise that too would have gone! cate balance of natural processes area they did 12 years ago. Maybe fund of the Oblast requires the joint would go head over heels and we 3 per cent is not a huge area as the efforts of the local executive bodies, White on blue would all cry bitter tears. But it average indicator for Ukraine as a local self-governance authorities, Blue is definitely the colour of the would be too late. They seem to un- whole is about 5 per cent, but a spe- nature protection authorities and sea. So what if it is shallow and bare- derstand this in the Donetsk Oblast. the general public. There is no need ly salty! The white spits of the Azov to persuade anybody that such joint Sea are nevertheless the favourite But I have to add a small spoon of tar “Protected areas occupy action is necessary. At the moment breeding grounds for hundreds of to this barrel of nature-conservation four times the area they the level of common responsibility thousands of birds. After my visit honey to keep local naturalists on for nature and hence for our future to the Meotida regional landscape their toes. Not all the valuable areas did 12 years ago.” life depends on everyone.

15 The once verdant forests of Donbas home to ancient tribes such as the have suffered considerable damage, , , , both from the second world war Polovtsians and many others of and from extensive felling in the whom there is now little trace. Today last century. Only 5.9 per cent of the reserve totals 1,030 hectares, 90 the region remains forested. The re- of them in strictly protected areas gion lies in the steppes, the treeless that have never been ploughed and grassy plains characteristic of much on which for 70 years no cattle have of south-. Nowadays grazed. Even mowing was forbidden. it is impossible to find large areas For some sorts of wildlife Homu- of virgin steppe, as most have been tovskaya is the last refuge. It shelters turned into farmland. But the region 604 plant species (19 of them en- still retains unique treasures such as demic) as well as 59 kinds of moss, the Homutovskaya steppe, which has 46 lichens and more than 270 mush- remained unchanged enough to give room species. some idea of how the region looked in the distant past. The Donbas region, in common with most other places on Earth, faces a The Homutovskaya reserve offers a range of ecological challenges whose final glimpse of what has been lost. long-term effect is hard to predict, It is all that remains of the once vast but which could radically change wilderness of , people’s lives.

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Industry and its footprint

The appallingly heavy destruction in- conditions in many of the under- flicted on Ukraine during the second ground mines, including thin, steeply world war was followed by post-war sloping coal seams, large depths and modernization and the expansion of high concentrations of methane, are industry, which resulted in substan- amongst the reasons why Ukraine’s tial and sustained economic growth. mines rank among the least produc- Coal-mining dominated Donetsk and tive in the world. the Donbas in those days, but it has now declined and the industrial land- After independence, though, the sit- uation changed significantly, breath- scape is more varied. The centre of the ing new life into mining. Coal was and steel industry is the Donetsk Ukraine’s main domestically availa- Metallurgical Plant. Coke by-prod- ble fossil fuel and it has become even ucts form the basis of a chemical in- more vital for many users with the dustry producing plastics, and there recent rehabilitation of coal on world are several heavy engineering works, energy markets and Ukraine’s recent while light industries, for example attempts to diversify its energy sup- food, are also important. Manufac- ply, in particular after severe disputes tures include clothing, cotton cloth, over gas shook Europe in 2006–9. footwear, furniture, and refrigerators. So industry earns Donbas a living. To any economist, coal’s decline was Within the boundaries of the Don- inevitable. Towards the end of the bas region today there are altogether Soviet era Donbas coal became fairly about 900 large industrial plants, in- unprofitable as the remaining de- cluding 140 collieries, 40 metallurgi- posits were relatively thin and poor cal plants, seven thermal power sta- in content. Very difficult geological tions and 177 chemically dangerous

29 operations. Three hundred mineral Alexey Stakhanov is reputed to have deposits are being mined, there are produced in a single shift. Krasnyi Lyman 1,230 km of oil, gas and pipelines, and 113 other operations Despite hundreds of millions of dol- Sloviansk Siv. Donets using radioactive materials. lars in government subsidies, many Siversk mines are still not profitable for techni- Kramatorsk But that living comes at a fearful cal as well as market reasons. In 2002, Druzhkivka price. What stands out starkly is the average coal mining productivity in Artemivsk most harmful industry in Donbas: Ukraine was approximately 320 tonnes Dobropillia Kostiantynivka Dzerzhynsk mining. If once the mines were in a per miner per year – less than half the Debaltseve Dymytrov workable state, today all too many are figure for Poland and a tenth of the UK Krasnoarmiisk Novohrodivka Horlivka death-traps. Of 284 mines, 100 were equivalent. The World Bank has ad- Selydove Yenakiieve Yasynuvata commissioned around 45 years ago vised Ukraine to close half its mines, Avdiivka Zhdanivka Makiivka Shakhtarsk and 52 have been working for about but only a small fraction have in fact Vo Kuakhove Khartsyzk a century. Over 25 per cent of the sta- shut. At present 85 mines are operat- vcha Torez Snizhne Donetsk tionary equipment has exceeded its ing in the Donetsk Oblast. Production Marinka Vel. Novosilka M recommended service life, and about is about 70 to 80 million tonnes annu- Amvrosiivka iu Dokuchaievsk s half the surface systems have been ally, down from the 1970s high point of Komsomolske operating for 40 years without being about 210 million tonnes a year. Volnovakha upgraded at all. Production facilities have deteriorated significantly. Ukraine’s mines, however rundown they may be, still mean livelihoods s iu lm for individuals, life for communi- a As a result coal production has fallen, K as has productivity, while the cost of ties and earnings for the national

Mariupol Novoazovsk production has risen. Mine output exchequer. But these gains come at a has more than halved, from 165 mil- mounting price. Ukraine’s mines are

Yalta lion tonnes in 1990 to less than 80 not only largely unprofitable. They million in 2007. Technologically and have one of the highest accident rates Industry in Donetsk Oblast economically, coal mining in Don- in the world, because of poor main- bas appears to be very inefficient. tenance and neglect of safety regula- Thermal power plants Coking and chemical enterprises Average monthly productivity is tions. Mine officials believe unsafe Metallurgical works Mines, mining enterprises and open pits 21.7 tonnes per miner, substantially conditions and irregular payment of lower than in leading coal-producing wages have prompted many workers Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010 countries, and barely a fifth of what to leave the industry, reducing the

30 workforce’s skills base. An estimated or make steel without producing large three-quarters of the country’s 209 quantities of pollution. And however Pollutant emissions mines are considered to be highly careful you may be in controlling it, per captia per km2 prone to methane blasts. Death rates some of the filth will still find its way in kg in t began to rise sharply when, after in- into living creatures, including people. 450 100 dependence, the government slashed 400 80 subsidies to the industry. About 5,000 According to the State Statistics Com- 350 70 miners have died since then, and the mittee, Donetsk Oblast accounted 300 60 country’s mines today are considered for 33.9 per cent of total emissions 50 among the world’s most dangerous of harmful substances from station- 250 as hundreds of miners die in indus- ary sources in Ukraine in 2008. This 200 40 trial accidents every year. Very bad is about 391 kg of pollution emitted 150 30 discipline is usually blamed. Safety for every single inhabitant. The total 100 20 regulations are continually flouted be- amount of 1,533,400 tonnes is pro- 50 10 cause the pit owners aim to maintain duced by more than 1,170 enterprises 0 0 production levels at any cost, while in various industrial sectors. From the Ukraine the miners do not take proper care second half of 2008 a tendency towards Odesa Oblast of themselves as they seek to increase a reduction in gross emissions of harm- Donetsk Oblast Luhansk Oblast Dnipropetrivsk Oblast personal output. Management in pri- ful substances in the region was ob- Source: State of the Environment Report for Donetsk Oblast, 2007 vatized mines is reportedly poor, with served, related to the onset of the glob- Produced by Zoi Environment Network, May 2010 incentives to maximize production al financial crisis. However, the level of at the cost of mine safety (anecdo- air pollution in cities such as Donetsk, releasing 1.5 to 2.2 billion m3 of meth- vironmentally friendly energy-saving tally, this is said to have meant reduc- Dzerzhynsk, Yenakiieve, Makiivka, ane into the atmosphere every year. It technologies can be implemented ing roof support intervals well below Horlivka and Mariupol remains high. is one of the most powerful greenhouse thanks to financial instruments under minimum standards). But the picture The main atmospheric air pollutants gases and these emissions are equiva- the Kyoto Protocol. Under the terms of painted by official statistics suggests of Donetsk Oblast, producing 91 per lent to about 10–15 million tonnes of the future contract with Austrian and that safety performance is improving. cent of gross emissions of harmful sub- CO2. Methane also continues to be Japanese government bodies a meth- stances, are seven coke-chemical en- emitted by mines which have closed. ane-utilization facility was installed Donbas makes enormous and some- terprises, five thermal power stations, Although the gas is a promising energy and a cogeneration power plant was times lethal demands on its miners. six metallurgical plants, and 120 mines vector, only 5 to 8 per cent of its total started. Some 41 million m3 of meth- But it has another distinction too, and mining enterprises. volume is used in industry. The Donetsk ane has been processed, with 194.24 one which few regions would envy: basin has estimated methane reserves million kW of electrical energy and it blights the lives of many who never Despite the serious decline in annual of 11.5 trillion m3. The A.F. Zasy- 168,320 Gcal of thermal energy pro- go near a mine. You do not hew coal coal production, Donbas mines are still adko mine is an example of how en- duced at the mine.

31 Krasnyi Lyman Krasnyi Lyman

Sloviansk Sloviansk Siv. Donets Siv. Donets Siversk Siversk Kramatorsk Kramatorsk

Druzhkivka Artemivsk Druzhkivka Artemivsk Kostiantynivka Kostiantynivka Dobropillia Dobropillia Dzerzhynsk Dzerzhynsk Debaltseve Dymytrov Dymytrov Debaltseve Horlivka Novohrodivka Horlivka Krasnoarmiisk Novohrodivka Krasnoarmiisk Yenakiieve Yenakiieve Selydove Yasynuvata Selydove Yasynuvata Avdiivka Zhdanivka Avdiivka Zhdanivka Makiivka Shakhtarsk Makiivka Shakhtarsk V Kuakhove Khartsyzk Kuakhove Khartsyzk ovcha Donetsk Torez Snizhne Vovcha Donetsk Torez Snizhne Marinka Marinka Vel. Novosilka Vel. Novosilka M M Amvrosiivka iu Amvrosiivka iu Dokuchaievsk s Dokuchaievsk s Komsomolske Komsomolske Volnovakha Volnovakha

s s u iu i m lm l a a K K

Novoazovsk Novoazovsk Mariupol Mariupol

Yalta Yalta

Soil pollution in Donetsk Oblast Air pollution in Donetsk Oblast Low Permitted Moderate Increased High Very high Ultra high Low Allowable Medium High Very high Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010 Level of air pollution Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010 Level of soil pollution

32 CO2 Emissions Krasnyi Lyman per capita in t Sloviansk Siv. Donets Siversk 14 Kramatorsk 12 Druzhkivka Artemivsk Kostiantynivka 10 Dobropillia Ukraine Dzerzhynsk 8 Dymytrov Debaltseve Novohrodivka Horlivka Krasnoarmiisk Yenakiieve 6 Selydove Yasynuvata Belarus Avdiivka Zhdanivka Makiivka Shakhtarsk 4 Kuakhove Khartsyzk Vovcha Donetsk Torez Snizhne Marinka 2 Moldova Vel. Novosilka M Amvrosiivka iu Dokuchaievsk s 0 Komsomolske 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007

Volnovakha Source: World Bank. Development Indicators database Produced by Zoi Environment Network, January 2011

s iu lm As one of the most hazardous regions Both open fires and slow underground a K of Ukraine for environmental pol- smouldering can produce harmful lution, Donbas raises considerable gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), Novoazovsk Mariupol concern not only about air pollution carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen diox- but also about the all-too- common ide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2), Yalta dumps, also called terricones in the as well as “tarry” emission products region, piles of discarded material left (including poly-aromatic hydrocar- Soil pollution in Donetsk Oblast Low Allowable Medium High Very high behind by the mines and coal plants. bons) from the incomplete combus- Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Some of them burn ceaselessly due tion of coal. Mining experts say the Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010 Level of soil pollution to their high concentration of coal. numerous mining waste piles scattered

33 There is coal but no happiness Alesya Chumakova for Belarusky chas, , Belarus No 43 (1174) 24-30 October 2008 (abridged translation)

No matter how much we complain ey to train youth educators, takes of the environmental protection de- about the ecology of Belarus, there care of the health of its workers in partment what the typical illnesses “The level of dust at the are regions in the post-Soviet coun- its own resort and provides milk to of their workers were, he replied Donetskstal plant does tries that have got plenty of negative help people combat some of the ad- “Acute respiratory disease, radicu- not exceed the established factors, apart from Chernobyl. verse health impacts. lar pain, like everyone else”. There was absolutely no chance of looking minimum levels. How- Steamshop of the Soviets It is not surprising that a blind eye through the medical charts to check ever, for some reason the Nowadays Donbass is considered to is turned to many things. According what the ecologist said. white helmet that I got at be one of the most polluted areas in to the head of the environmental Europe. From the very first minute protection department at Donetsk- In addition, the plant does not conduct the entrance became grey of being in Donetsk you can tell that stal, the level of dust at the plant any research to identify the impact of during the excursion.” even in polluted Minsk it is easier does not exceed the established emissions on the environment. to breathe! minimum levels. However, for some reason the white helmet that I got Meanwhile, according to data from amount of pollution, and extrac- Mum or stepmother? at the entrance became grey during the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, tive industries produce another I asked a middle aged woman if she the excursion so that it was possible one in two ill people in Donetsk have 532,000 tonnes of it. liked breathing in the waste prod- to draw on it with a finger as if on cancer. According to the Donetsk ucts of the Donetskstal plant and ad- dirty windows. regional council, only 23 per cent of Breathing may damage your jacent mines. Her reply was: “What babies are born healthy and the death health are you talking about? The plant has The situation with labour safety is rate exceeds the birth rate. On one In any city the most expensive got modern equipment. Don’t bother not much better. The workers were wall of the plant was a poster: “We apartments are located in the centre. me with that!”. This is the typical dressed up in dirty overalls and will build the clean future together”. In Donetsk this prestigious housing position for the majority of local none of them wore safety goggles or is literally adjacent to the walls of residents whose income depends on used earplugs despite obviously high Possibly, the situation will change in the enterprise. Donetskstal. The industrial giant noise levels. Probably I was talking 2010 when electric furnaces are to employs 12,000 people and is the to the wrong man, but when I, per- be put into operation and all open I stopped to talk to a woman who place where Donetsk residents spend haps provocatively, asked the head hearth furnaces are shut down, but seemed to be living nearby: not only their working days, but their at present pollutant emissions from “Aren’t you scared to be living so leisure hours as well. “From the very first the steel industry in Donetsk region close to the steel plant?” amount to 494,500 tonnes a year, or “Yes, I know that it is harmful for The Country of Smiles is a recrea- minute of being in 30 per cent of the total emissions in health, but at the moment I don’t tion park located on the territory of Donetsk you can tell that the region. have an opportunity to move out. the plant and the place where hun- even in polluted Minsk Last year my Dad died of cancer dreds of families spend their free Production of gas, electricity and and I think that the environment time. The plant spends its own mon- it is easier to breathe!” water is responsible for a similar had its negative effect”.

34 The whole of Mendeleev’s periodic Health Organization, the pol- table of elements is dissolved in the luted air of a typical industrial air of Donetsk with methane ac- European city reduces the life counting for half of the emissions. of its residents by eight months. However, due to the fact that this In Donetsk the figure is eight gas is non-toxic it is often not taken years. into consideration when calculating the level of pollution. Apart from Gas may be getting more methane, the highest levels of emis- expensive, but they still sions are due to dust, sulphur com- burn it pounds, nitrogen and carbon oxides. Only one of more than 10 mines Other harmful substances make up operating in the area recovers no more than 2 per cent of the total waste gas, rather than just burn- emissions, although they are even ing it. One such facility was built more toxic than those mentioned a couple of years ago and uses above and include ammonia, phe- methane for the needs of the nol, formaldehyde and heavy metals mine, recovering heat and elec- (lead, chromium, manganese, zinc) tricity. It has cut annual emis- as well as carcinogenic benzopyrene. sions by 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The plant has The result is that your lungs would the technical capacity to sell en- not notice much difference between ergy to the city but this system is a walk down the street and working not yet operational. at the blast furnace or coke oven. According to data from the World Local residents will often assure you that they are fine, the city is growing and bad air is just a re- “The polluted air of a sult of many cars on the streets. typical industrial Euro- Maybe the environmentalists are wrong? But how can we then ex- pean city reduces the life plain what was said by one of the of its residents by eight plant workers: “The whole of my months. In Donetsk the salary is spent on health treat- ment for my children, with no figure is eight years.” money left for myself”.

35 Death by suffocation Oleg Lystopad for Novaya gazeta, Kyiv, Ukraine 10 December 2008 (abridged translation)

MPC defines the maximum permis- its million-residents status. Further- heaps of waste rock. On the terri- Donetsk Botanical Garden did man- sible concentration of a contami- more migration into the cities jeop- tory of Donetsk there are more than age to identify such plants. Indeed nant. This is the level of pollutant ardises the rural economy making 100 coal tips, and over 60,000 in the this institution is well known in concentration in the environment survival even more difficult. Oblast. There are small, medium- Ukraine, and abroad, for its collec- – the air for example – which in ex- sized and huge coal tips. In all they tions of steppe plants, exotic species, cessive quantities can easily damage Hand out the gas masks! occupy 5,000 hectares, or 0.2 per cent etc., and the work of its scientists, people’s health. Very often these lev- Had paganism survived in Ukraine, of the Oblast’s total land surface. which concentrates on plant survival els exceed the norms several times then Donetsk residents would most- in industrial zones. However, over over in Donetsk Oblast. ly respect Stribog, the god of wind. The oldest tips, dating from the days the last few years miserable budget- Strong, predominantly eastern or when Donetsk was called Yuzovka, ing has left no opportunity for doing Some people might say: “Hey, that’s south-eastern winds are one of the are covered by trees and bushes. The this work effectively. not the issue!” During the economic factors that save industrial Donetsk second group were extinguished re- crisis we should care about the work from smog. According to data from cently and now adorn the scenery The Garden, part of the National of the enterprises, and later on we’ll the Ministry of the Environment of with their gray humps. And finally, of Science of Ukraine, take care of the environment. How- Ukraine, Donetsk is really in danger the last group of the monsters are the was established in 1964. In 2001 its ever, there is no “later”. We need to of suffocation: over the last 20 years most harmful ones. They are burn- Steppes of Ukraine collection was think about that all the time, as the there has been a steady increase in ing and polluting the environment all designated part of the national her- crisis will be over but health is fragile the MPC for dust, nitrogen oxide, for- day long with poisonous gases. itage of Ukraine. The Garden’s col- and life is short (and terribly short to maldehyde and benzopyrene. Accord- lections include 97 species on the be honest, as the average life expec- ing to the calculations of Vladimir When a coal tip has cooled down IUCN Red List. More than 30,000 tancy for men in Donetsk is 53 years). Berezin, a member of the Bakhmat (and this will happen in 20 to 30 people visit it annually. Significant improvements in environ- Environmental and Cultural Centre years’ time if we are lucky), it will mental protection would take years, the level of harmful emissions ex- still pollute, covering everything However, all that was virtu- if not decades. So the sooner we start ceeds 1 kg per resident every day. with dust. Smart Alecs will imme- ally ignored when on 1 July 2002 – the sooner we will get there. diately say: “Plant it with trees and Ukraine’s Cabinet decided to with- The barrows are asleep but the problem will be solved”. Yes, but draw 147 hectares of land from Donetsk is the not the coal tips there is a small problem: the tip is its ownership. After an intense, of the Donetsk Oblast, the big indus- Residents of Donetsk joke sadly: cone-shaped as that was more con- protracted battle in the courts, the trial, scientific and technical centre “Considering the environmental venient. So now we have to find general public managed to return of Ukraine. It is located on the river conditions here, we all live like coal something that will grow on such a this area of land to the Garden, Kalmius in the steppe zone in the miners. But how can we describe the steep slope, and more particularly which promptly lost a further 59 south-eastern part of the country. conditions for coal miners then?” on such poor soil! hectares of the reserve’s land (by At the beginning of the 1990s the law the Garden belongs to the State population was 1.1 million people. The product of the coal miner’s work A small green spot Nature Reserve Fund), this time to Now the city is on the verge of losing is not just coal, but coal tips too, However, the scientists of the a private investor.

36 “According to calculations the level of harmful emissions exceeds 1 kg per resident every day.”

Compress the gas! is currently flared off. Zasyadko as it may seem, factory chimneys – of the church, little zoo and pond Over the last few years air pollution coal mine invested nearly 700 mil- literally located in the city centre – with the swans does not change the in Donetsk has deteriorated because lion Ukrainian hryvnas [US$100 to have hardly any influence on prices. situation either. of increasing motor transport. Pro- 150m] in a special scheme which has vincial traffic jams can easily com- enabled it to implement a degasifi- Hardly anything is deducted from The worst thing is that nobody ex- pete with those in the capital. With cation programme and has provid- those super profits for environmen- cept Donetskstal plans to replace the crisis the economic situation in ed the mine with electricity as the tal protection. Donetskstal is prob- their open-hearth furnaces, such as Donetsk changed, but until then, the methane is supplied to a small pow- ably the only exception. According those in Mariupol and other Ukrain- steel plants were very, very profit- er station. The mine generates so to reports, more than 100 million ian cities. Neither India, Russia nor able. And people related to this much electricity that there are plans hryvnas [US$20 to 30m] have been China could afford such an energy- business (not ordinary workers of to sell it, unfortunately delayed by a invested there in environmental im- hungry production method. course) liked to spend their money recent accident. The payback period provements over the last four years. on cool new cars. of such a programme is only three I do not know how much the owners And finally a few words about the years; but other mines are in no hur- of the plant cared about the health water basin of Donetsk. The river The residents of Donetsk go to work ry to adopt this novelty. The mine of Donetsk residents whilst doing Kalmius remains the only blue line by public transport. The underground owners are not ready to foot the bill, that, but it helped them to obtain on the map. Twenty or 30 years ago is still just a plan (although a lot of nor do they trust the government de- ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifica- it was still possible to go swimming money has been spent on its construc- spite talk of a special law that would tion for environmental management. there. Now only a suicide could take tion, but somehow nobody knows stimulate the use of mine methane. In turn that makes the plant’s out- such a risk, as the Kalmius carries what exactly it was spent on) and the Obviously the whole business is so put more competitive on the inter- the wastewater of the city including cannot cover the terri- unprofitable for gas traders that for national market. discharge from mines and chemi- tory of the huge city. Donetsk is one of many decades we have continued to cal enterprises. The wastewater has the biggest cities in Ukraine, stretch- buy gas from Russia despite having There is also a plan to replace six only undergone mechanical treat- ing 55 km from east to west and 28 huge deposits under our feet. open-hearth furnaces with electric ment, and the chemicals dissolved in km north to south. So the buses and ones. Open-hearth furnaces are not the water remain. Some people joke snort around, adding to the Talking about transport, the whole just environmentally damaging, their that local investors are developing a emissions of the cars and lorries. transport fleet of the Zasyadko mine technology is completely outdated. project to use the Kalmius to trans- is powered by condensed gas pro- fer electricity. Well, why not? The The level of pollution could have duced at its own compressor facility. It is very difficult to breathe in the concentrations of anions and cations been reduced if transport had been Positive improvements are there, but open-hearth furnace shop. No mat- which ensure high conductivity are converted to run on gas. And it does it is often too hard to see them. ter how bright the head of environ- much higher than maximum permis- not matter much that Russian gas mental protection may sound when sible concentrations. is getting more expensive. Donbass I was very surprised that the cost of talking about ISO certificates, it has got plenty of its own resources: property in Donetsk is comparable does not make breathing any better The very MPCs by which the city I mean the coal mine methane that with property in the capital. Strange or easier. And further contemplation lives, or dies...?

37 across Donbas annually release some cities and towns, again a significant 500,000 tonnes of these emissions in health risk. Ukraine, and about 120,000 tonnes in The coal industry is not the sole Krasnyi Lyman the Donetsk Oblast alone. ets Siv. Don source of abandoned and potentially Sloviansk Siversk There is good reason to treat the harmful material. By 2002 about 10 bn Kramatorsk dumps with extreme caution. One lo- tonnes of industrial waste had accu- cal expert described how they some- mulated in Donbas, a total weight of Druzhkivka Artemivsk times look. “At night you can see a 320,000 tonnes per sq km. The waste Kostiantynivka beautiful blue glow over the heaps. comes from the mining, power and metallurgical industries. In some in- Dobropillia But do not be tempted to admire this Dzerzhynsk dustrial centres (Donetsk, Makeyev- Dymytrov Horlivka Debaltseve romantic sight. The glow is created by radiation from rare-earth metals at ka, Gorlovka) the load reaches 3 m Krasnoarmiisk Novohrodivka Yenakiieve Selydove high temperatures inside the dumps.” tonnes per sq km. The Coal Minis- Yasynuvata Avdiivka Zhdanivka try is now closing 121 mining enter- Makiivka Khartsyzk Shakhtarsk There are about 600 waste heaps in prises and liquidating their assets. It Kuakhove Vovc Torez Snizhne ha Donetsk Donetsk Oblast left over from coal says they contain 341 spoil dumps, of Marinka mining, mostly located in towns. Other which at least 105 are burning. All the Vel. Novosilka M iu mining waste, such as tailings, is also a dumps need work to extinguish, re- Dokuchaievsk s Amvrosiivka source of concern, constituting a ma- shape, and/or replant them. Komsomolske jor source of heavy-metal pollution Volnovakha when acid drains from poorly man- Over and above the dumps’ environ- Areas for future storage mental impact growing industrial of waste aged or abandoned sites. The high acidity of mine waters means heavy hazards fuel social tension, including s iu Unauthorized disposal lm a sites metals such as copper, zinc, cadmium, pressure on workers to keep produc- K Domestic waste landfills, arsenic and lead can leach from the tivity as high as they can whatever the which are authorized rock, severely contaminating surface risks, to themselves and to society. Mariupol Novoazovsk for waste disposal for 2008 and ground water, soil and vegetation. Despite the drop in production and Domestic waste landfills, They can then enter and build up in the steps to improve safety, the num- Yalta which are not the natural and human food chains, ber of mine accidents is not falling. authorized for waste disposal for 2008 posing a serious risk to human health. Waste sites in Donetsk Oblast Industrial waste landfills In addition, mining and other indus- Increasingly the obvious answer is to trial waste heaps generate about 10 close a mine or other installation. But Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010 million tonnes of dust in Ukrainian even that is not without risk. Con-

38 tributing to the complexity of mine to various challenges, including finan- closure and its effects are difficulties cial instability, bankruptcy proceed- in overall economic and market or- ings, and a chronic shortage (or real- ganization, and the largely unsuccess- location) of funds for addressing the ful privatization process. Privatizing social and environmental problems Ukraine’s coal industry has given rise associated with mine closures.

Trends in the impact of mining on the region’ environment

• The owners of mining and metal­ open-hearth and blast furnaces lurgical enterprises do not pay accounted for 60 per cent of sufficient attention to solving en- total emissions of harmful sub- vironmental problems. stances, and this share is not de- • Expenditure connected with creasing. fixed capital assets intended • Use of fresh water and discharge for nature protection purposes of wastewater into surface water amounts to only 0.3 to 0.4 per bodies are increasing in metal- cent of the volume of fixed capi- lurgy, but on the decline in the tal investments. coal industry. • Over the last five years current • Losses of fresh water during expenditure on the main environ- transport are increasing, whereas mental measures doubled, where- reuse and recycling of water in in- as the financial efficiency of indus- dustry remain at a constant level. try increased by a factor of 4.5. • Further adverse factors linked • In the metallurgical industry the to the environmental impact of share of energy-intensive and envi- mine closures have come to light ronmentally-harmful open hearth in the last 10 years. steelmaking practices remains high (about 50 per cent) and prac- These processes are still in the tically unchanged for many years. development stage and many ad- • In ferrous , sinter- verse consequences will become ing plants, coke-oven batteries, apparent in the near future.

39 Waste tips need flowers Julia Maklyuk for “24”, Kyiv, Ukraine 17 October 2008

Toxic vapour emissions, runoff, self- The recipe for turning waste tips ignition and landslips are just some “Waste tips could be into green parks is as follows: the “Officials dream of of the hazards posed by the waste turned into green parks dump is levelled as much as possible, turning the tips into tips which are a prominent part of yet no one is doing any- then covered with a layer of clay and blooming gardens just the Donetsk landscape. soil, making sure there is a proper thing about it.” water-runoff system. Then trees as much as the residents They could be turned into green which can grow under the particular of Donetsk.” parks yet no one is doing anything Alex Kirby, a BBC journalist from conditions found on waste tips are about it. the UK, warns that waste rock planted, including acacia, wild rose local authorities. However, the com- dumps should be treated with great and staff trees. In 10 years the toxic pany regenerates only the quarry but A quick survey of public opinion on caution. “We still can’t forget the coal tip will turn into a green area not the tips themselves. One quarry the streets of Donetsk demonstrates tragedy in Aberfan, in 1966. that can become a park or even a has already been filled in with that people consider waste tips There, a huge waste dump slid down reserve area. waste rock and covered with a layer dangerous for the environment and and hit the school building: 144 peo- of soil. The director of the company health. “The remains of coal burn ple died, including 116 children,” he However, Peck reminds us that it is has promised to plant a forest on and there is a lot of smoke. We do recalls. When a dump burns it be- not possible to plant the trees di- this territory in the future not know what chemicals there are comes very fragile and the risk of rectly on top of a coal dump, espe- in this smoke. But we are forced to landslides increases. cially if it is burning. “First of all, Officials dream of turning the tips breathe it”, they complain. you need to study the composition into blooming gardens just as much Foreign specialists note how this of the waste rock, the microclimate as, perhaps even more, than the danger is menacing the residents of and precipitation”, he points out. Sys- residents of Donetsk. “More trees – Donbass. “It is true that the waste tematic information on these issues more oxygen, less dust. And for our “Toxic vapour emissions, tips of Ukraine are in a danger- is not yet available. region it is extremely important”, runoff, self-ignition and ous and unstable state”, says Philip says Sergei Tretyakov, the head of landslips are just some Peck, professor of the International The authorities are trying to make the State Agency of Environment Institute of Industrial Environmen- business leaders responsible for Protection in Donetsk Oblast. “How- of the hazards posed by tal Economics (Sweden). “An inte- regeneration of the tips. For exam- ever, state funding is not sufficient: the waste tips which are grated programme for waste dump ple the Anthracite company which only 18 million Ukrainian hryvnas a prominent part of the rehabilitation, like the ones used in recovers coal from the tips spends [about US$3 to 4m] have been al- developed countries, should be im- some of its profits on soil regenera- located for waste tip rehabilitation Donetsk landscape.” plemented.” tion: this is part of its contract with over the past 12 years”.

40 Mining for a better environment

Coal mining in Ukraine has many ef- fects on society and the environment. The Mining for Closure approach The spoil dumps that disfigure the • defines the end result for mining As more specific items, such process- mining for closure review pro- landscape are one, and an important land and sets forth concrete ob- es should incorporate: cesses; one, because of the physical damage jectives for implementation; • the concerns and participation of • surveillance of the views and they cause. Decision-makers and prac- • ensures that the mine closure other stakeholders in reclamation desires for involvement of lo- titioners need help to develop their plan is an integral part of the pro- objectives; cal communities (in particu- ability to reduce the environmental and ject life cycle; • plans for action if ownership re- lar where such parties wish to social risks linked to mine closures. • prepares the mine closure plan verts to the state despite all efforts check the quality of information early in the process of mine de- to ensure otherwise; they are receiving – demanding There is ample experience from other velopment and in consultation • the preservation of mine manage- a role in site-monitoring and ac- countries, many of them in Europe, with the regulating authority and ment and geological records; cess to information to ensure ac- whose coal industries have contracted local communities; • early delineation of project credi- countability of the operator and sharply in recent decades, and who • explicitly includes environmen- tors’ claims on the site; governments, for example); have had to learn to cope with shat- tal, social and economic aspects • legal considerations for ownership, • the maintenance of communica- tered communities and poisoned in planning for mining opera- both now and in the past;. tion between private and public environments. UNEP has published tions; • maintenance of control over tenure bodies to improve closure policy ‘Mining for Closure: Policies, Prac- • allows for review and evolution if leases expire and another party and regulations; tices and Guidelines for Sustainable stretching from the pre-mine wants to obtain rights to the surface • ongoing searches for financing Mining and Closure of Mines’, to help planning phase, through con- or sub-surface; measures for clean-up; disaster struction, mining and mine clo- • adequate capacity among regula- response; spills management ensure mines are closed sustainably. sure to post-mine stewardship. tory personnel; and so forth, particularly for or- Existing regulations also need to be • ongoing research and testing of re- phaned sites, i.e. sites where le- periodically revised and constantly mediation strategies and technolo- gal owners cannot be identified enforced if mining is to benefit society gies and integration of results in or do not exist (anymore) rather than threaten it.

41 As part of the ENVSEC initiative, ers and decision-makers in Donetsk done to identify techniques to help • community and social risks UNEP has analysed the risks and and nationwide. reduce the impacts of mine closure. • final land use risks needs in the region to improve the The full use of risk assessment tools • legal and financial risks; and environmental situation around Analysis focuses on the needs and can also make comparisons easier • technical risks. coal mines and waste sites. The process of risk assessment as a basis between issues at a single site, as well Risk Assessment Considerations for risk amelioration. To improve as between different mines. Six dif- The following table outlines the main in the Donetsk Basin – Mine Clo- risk assessment for mines due to ferent categories of risk are relevant findings of the project and offers an sure and Spoil Dumps report de- close, established mine risk manage- to mining and mine closure. The Action Plan for the region in dealing tails the various findings and offers ment techniques will often need to items addressed include: with mining waste-related risks in practical approaches to address the be modified to suit the local context. • environmental risks the Donetsk region. problems facing both practition- Extensive work has already been • health and safety risks

Findings of the ENVSEC risk assessment study Solutions Proposed approach Proposed activities

Ukrainian practice and legal frameworks do Adapt and apply best practices for the Involve external parties with extensive Analyse national regulations in the light of not support best practice Ukraine experience of such practices abroad practices elsewhere and identify items together with Ukrainian actors to improve which are addressed, or not. mining and mine closure practice

Lack of adequate legislative structures for the Resolve liability and ownership issues Analyse legislation surrounding transfer of Draft proposals for improving policy sale of mine land, mine spoil dumps, etc. is a site ownership and liability for initial measures. significant barrier to progress regarding the examination rehabilitation of mine land

Unlicensed and informal mining activities. Increase site security and establish safe Regulate informal activities so they can join Develop guidelines or regulations for site Unlicensed and informal coal recovery coal-related activities the formal economy and meet acceptable access and licensing, safety and operations. environmental health and safety environmental factors, taxation or royalties, requirements and requirements for some forms of site restitution.

Considerable data on mine waste does exist Comprehensive information management Collect and centralize related mining site Develop and deploy GIS to manage – however, it is widely dispersed and only on mining objects data, then prioritize risks environmental data. limited quantities are available in digital form.

Existing planning and goals for environmental Revegetation and dump rehabilitation Identify areas where current practices can Activities: site rehabilitation and risk reduction are be strengthened by tried and proven - landform management, dump reshaping inadequate techniques from elsewhere - dump fire prevention techniques - management of acidic and saline wastes - topsoil management and soil remediation - water management - revegetation techniques and final land use Source: ENVSEC. (2008). Risk Assessment Considerations in the Donetsk Basin Mine Closure considerations. and Spoil Dumps.

42 References

Chilcote, R. (2002, July). Neglect ‘caused’ from http://uncatalogedmuseum.blogspot. Ukraine mine fire. Retrieved 2010, May com/2009/03/donetsk-roses-soccer-and- from CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ coal.html WORLD/europe/07/08/ukraine/index.html State Environmental Protection Adminis- ENVSEC. (2008–9). Material from Donetsk tration in Donetsk Oblast. (2010). The Land media training events under the Environ- of our concern. Ministry of Environmental ment and Security initiative. Donestk. Protection of Ukraine.

ENVSEC. (2008). Risk Assessment Consid- Stern, D. (2009, April). Economic crisis erations in the Donetsk Basin Mine Closure sweeps Eastern Ukraine. Retrieved 2010 йил and Spoil Dumps. May from NY times: http://www.nytimes. com/2009/04/08/world/europe/08ukraine. Herasimovich, V. (2008). Ukrainian Coal html Mining Sector Review. CASE Ukraine – Centre for Social and Economic Research. UNECE. (2007). Environmental Perfor- mance Reviews: Ukraine. New York and Kushch, L. (2004, 11). Donetsk rallies Geneva. around its man. Retrieved 2010 йил 05 from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/eu- University of Ottawa. (2005, 10). Ukraina rope/4043601.stm TV (Donetsk): Yushchenko’s Speech to Lo- cal Officials in Donetsk [BBC translation]. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series Retrieved 2010, 05 from http://www. C: Environmental Security. (2007). Simula- ukrainianstudies.uottawa.ca/ukraine_list/ tion and Assessment of Chemical Processes ukl339_10.html in a Multiphase Environment. (M. M. I. Barnes, Ed.) Alushta, Ukraine: Springer. Walter Filho, I. B. (2002). Approaches to handling environmental problems in the Norris, L. (2009 йил March). Donetsk: mining and metalurgical regions. Nato Ad- Roses, Soccer and Coal. Retrieved 2010, May vance Research Workshop. Mariupol.

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