Explanations of the name 'Black Sea' are both numerous and obscure, but the Black Sea today poses questions of a different sort-namely, questions about the state of its environment and ecosystems in the light of the region's political and economic problems.
By Sibel Sezer Erlap
The Black Sea's unique ecology has been damaged in past decades by an influx of pollutants from the Danube, Dniester, Don and other large rivers, while economic development along its shores has added further environmental stress. Also, the sea has become an important transit corridor for energy supplies from east to west; thus experts and politicians agree that an even stronger effort involving all riparian countries is now needed to achieve a functioning environmental/economic balance.
An "ecological catastrophe and nothing less" is how the Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs describes the environmental situation in the zone of the military conflict between Georgia and Russia. Indeed, nature is always the first to be sacrificed and the last to recover in times of war, but the Black Sea was cause for environmental concern long before gunfire erupted in the Caucasus late this summer.
In June, a group of high-level experts gathering in Istanbul to participate in a seminar on sustainable development concluded that the very concept of sustainable development is misunderstood in the Black Sea region, both among decision makers and the general public. Zoriana Mishchuk from the Institute for Sustainable Development in Ukraine is concerned that politicians are making long-term sustainable development policies more difficult by pursuing short-term goals.
Countries on the Black Sea littoral face a worrisome array of economic and social challenges. Macroeconomic difficulties and the current state of health and primary education reveal that these countries still need time to make socioeconomic progress. Annual per capita GDP in the region is quite low compared to the European Union, ranging from Georgia's USD 4,700 to Russia's USD 14,692. The EU's highest per capita GDP figures, for example, belong to Luxembourg and Denmark (USD 83,456 and USD 38,864 respectively). There is also rather high unemployment in all the Black Sea states compared to the EU. Inflation among Black Sea states is highest in Russia (11 percent) and lowest in Bulgaria (4.5 percent). Black and grey economies and poverty are quite widespread throughout the region, while other problems include gender inequality, social exclusion and lack of public participation.
According to the Brundtland Report (1987), sustainable development entails meeting the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of future generations. The report suggests that the best way to go about doing this is to integrate environmental protection and social justice into economic development, but most sustainable development efforts in the region are proving difficult to advance beyond the planning stage. Some countries finalised their national sustainability strategies by the 2005 deadline agreed upon at the 2002 Johannesburg summit, while others are still working on them.
Spoils of warThe region's environmental vulnerability was made clear amidst an exchange of accusations between Georgia and Russia in the wake of armed conflict between the two nations. Georgia blamed the blasting and sinking of Georgian vessels by Russian forces at Poti, a Georgian Black Sea port, for spilling large amounts of hydrocarbons (diesel and benzine) and hydraulic oil into the sea. Georgia's Foreign Ministry claimed that, some 50 to 70 tonnes of oil were spilled, calling the quantity "unprecedented in Georgia's coastal zone." Sea currents then moved the spill north toward the Kolkheti National Park and its protected coast.
"The protected zone of Kolkheti National Park and its surroundings are in a state of ecological catastrophe, which could have serious negative impact on the whole Black Sea ecosystem," the ministry added. Cleanup efforts have also been hampered because, according to the ministry, the Russian military has prohibited the employment of skimmer and containment booms and barred environmental authorities from site access.
Responding to a journalist from Capital, a Sofia-based weekly, Russia's ambassador to NATO Dmitrii Rogozin warned that high amounts of sulphur chloride lying beneath the Black Sea surface could spell environmental doom in the event of armed conflict.
"This is why we are warning NATO to stop flexing its muscles in the Black Sea," Rogozin warned. "They say that they're supplying Georgia with humanitarian aid, but why on military ships? We want the Romanians, Bulgarians, and all countries around the Black Sea to be very careful what they are doing and what they allow to be done in their waters. The Black Sea should be used for trade and tourism, not for military purposes.
In addition to protecting the Black Sea and its coastal environment, urgent action is needed to address its biodiversity and landscape heritage. Among the region's worst environmental problems is eutrophication, the natural resulting of increased organic content, but which is accelerated in the Black Sea by an influx of fertilisers from large rivers emptying into it. Some of the sea's other environmental burdens are pollution, the introduction of exotic species, and overexploitation of marine resources.
In the early 1990s, problems like these mobilised the six coastal countries to sign the Bucharest Convention. This was a particularly strong example of forming partnerships in times of conflict, as Russia and Ukraine were involved at the time in a dispute over ownership of the Black Sea Naval Fleet. The recent military conflict in Georgia, however, has brought some uncertainty into the proceedings with the emergence of a new international subject on the Black Sea coast: The Republic of Abkhazia, which is thus far recognized only by Russia and a dozen or so other countries around the world. Unlike Russia and Georgia, Abkhazia is not party to any international conventions or legal norms aimed at protecting the environment and fostering sustainable development.
Growth and decayInhabitants of the Black Sea region have traditionally taken advantage of a wealth of rich natural resources, and continue to do so. Goods and services provided by natural resources range from natural gas and energy to transportation routes. In short, development tends to be closely linked to the natural environment. A general rule of thumb is: the more that an economic activity relies on natural resources, the higher the level of environmental degradation and more irreversible the damage — which of course has a severely negative impact on economic activity deriving from a natural resource base.
Fishing in the Black Sea and tourism in the Mediterranean are oft-cited examples of how certain economic activities relying on a natural resource base are environmentally destructive; they are also clear illustrations of why sustainable development strategies need to be implemented.
Yuksel Ustun from the Turkey-based Society of Peace with Nature warns that "production at any cost, regardless of the consequences" for the Black Sea is finally giving way to new concepts like 'sustainable environment,' 'efficient use of natural resources' and 'sustainable consumption.' Healthy change, he argues, will involve sustainable and efficient use of natural resources, allocation of investments within the context of cost-benefit frameworks, selecting paths of technological improvement and making necessary institutional adjustments.
The Black Sea's environmental degradation has become particularly evident in the fall-off of marine life. As recently as the 1960s, the Black Sea was home to nearly 170 fish species, while approximately 25 species were fished commercially. Within three decades the number of commercially fished species plummeted to just five. And of those species which remain commercially viable, some are being netted in smaller amounts.
"The average catch of European anchovy from 1999 to 2004 was 345,000 tonnes per year. This dropped drastically to 235,000 tonnes in 2005," says Murat Bilecenoglu, a fisheries expert at the Biology Department of Adnan Menderes University.
One reason for this decrease is that there are simply more commercial fishing vessels. According to a report from the Black Sea Environmental Program (BSEP), the number grew from 3,000 in 1980 to 4,500 in 1994. Conversely, the amount of fish caught during the same period fell from 850,000 tonnes per year to 410,000. Nearly 8,000 commercial fishing vessels currently operate on the Black Sea, according to estimates.
Another contributor to falling fish populations, according to Levent Bat, a professor at the Fisheries Faculty of Ondokuz Mayis Univiersity in Turkey, is the harvesting of fish that have yet to reach reproductive age.
The Black Sea coastal region is also suffering the effects of another modern problem: population growth. A salient feature of population growth is that one type of regional and environmental use (e.g. fishing) comes into conflict with another type (e.g. tourism). Not only does each activity become thus compromised; the combined environmental damage is also much greater.