Environment: problems and solutions

Moscow’s environment is monitored and assessed by the quality of four components: air, water, greenspace, and soil. The city’s environmental issues are typical of all major cities. Yet even against the background of steadily increasing traffic and industrial revival, the capital’s environmental situation can be described as stable. Moscow earmarks some RUB 3 bn-4 bn for environmental protection each year half as much as Russia’s total federal spending for the purpose. Nearly RUB 1.5 bn is forked out for planning and developing urban greenspace.

Recently, a decrease in air pollution has been observed, with the trend being most obvious in carbon monoxide and dioxide. The decrease is linked to tough restrictions imposed on residual oil use for heating purposes during the winter. Yet there is also another reason for it, far more effective in terms of air quality, in fact: the increasing number of imported cars compliant with the Euro 2, Euro 3 or Euro 4 emission standards. Additionally, access to the city centre has been restricted for Euro 2 cars. It is time to set limits on the construction of office and shopping centres in the middle of Moscow in order to cut down on the traffic in the area.

The new measures take into account the environmental experience of the European Union. In 2005, the European Commission put a cap on hazardous emissions for light passenger and commercial vehicles (the Euro 5 standard). With this stringent limit in place, emissions of hazardous particles from diesel cars will be reduced by 80%, and that of oxides of nitrogen will be cut by 20%, while it will also lower the nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emission standard for petrol engines by 25%. Such standards are becoming customary in Europe.

Throughout Moscow, air quality is monitored and measurements are taken for 22 different substances that pose the most serious health risks: each administrative okrug has two or three stations and a mobile laboratory. MosEcoMonitoring has a nearly 10-year long history of consistent, automatic measurements in the city.

As for landscaping, the state of urban plants has improved, which is clearly demonstrated in annual checks of the greenspace. With no more road salt used for de-icing, it has become possible to wash and rehabilitate the soil along the major thoroughfares, although the adverse impact from fuel exhausts admittedly still remains. Meanwhile, 95% of all plants bedded there take root, with the generally accepted rate being just 90%. The best plants to naturalize in Moscow are heavy standard trees, delivered from across Russia’s regions and imported from abroad. Similarly, many plants arrive from nursery gardens in Western Europe.

Natural sites enjoying special protection cover 17,700 hectares of Moscow territory, including a nationally protected site the Losiny Ostrov National Park — and 14 regionally protected areas. By 2020, Moscow will have created 254 new specially protected natural sites, thus increasing their total space to 24,800 hectares, or 20% of the city’s total area.

The Nature Management and Environmental Protection Department and the Moscow City Government are responsible for preserving a subtle balance between the lost natural sites and the newly developed greenspace, as well as protecting the greenspace the city has from aggressive property development policies.

The Nature Management and Environmental Protection Department keeps a watchful eye on World Health Organization updates. It is determined to bring urban stress and its hazardous effects on health into the spotlight. It is now obvious that the maximum allowable concentrations are lower in greener areas: the northwestern, western, and southwestern districts. However, the situation is gradually improving in other okrugs as well.

Last year, the mandatory environmental review of design and construction documents for environmentally hazardous facilities was canceled. Although environmental legislation is gradually easing, luckily, it is offset by increased corporate responsibility. Meanwhile, environmentally friendly technology is proving to be economically rewarding. By the same token, public awareness and concern for the environment which has doubled recently because of a higher living standard is also a vital contributor to the cause.