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ings, and plating materials have been poorly stored and carelessly 

 dumped. Troop maneuvers involving heavy tracked vehicles and 

 live firing exercises have destroyed terrain, worsened erosion and 

 water pollution, and contaminated the soil with lead and other sub- 

 stances. Unexploded ordnance presents a safety hazard in and 

 around training areas. East European governments are assessing 

 the dimensions of the pollution problem they have inherited from 

 the Soviet military, but it probably will be many years before these 

 areas can be cleaned up and returned to productive use. 



Another region struggling with the residue of Soviet actions is 

 Central Asia's Aral Sea basin. Over the past 30 years, Soviet ef- 

 forts to expand Central Asian cotton production, which required di- 

 verting large quantities of the water from rivers that feed the Aral, 

 has reduced the sea by over 40 percent of its volume and 60 per- 

 cent of its surface area. The leaking and dumping of pesticides into 

 water supplies, the absence of a water pricing policy, and fierce 

 competition for water, particularly among the Uzbeks and 

 Turkmen, have significantly worsened Central Asia's critical water 

 situation. Existing economic, political and ethnic tensions in the re- 

 gion are being further strained by Aral refugees moving to cities 

 in search of guaranteed medical care, secure employment, a stable 

 source of drinking water, and essential food stuffs. Central Asian 

 leaders faced with serious economic and political difficulties have 

 discussed cooperation on environmental issues but have yet to for- 

 mulate, much less implement, a concrete plan to halt the Aral's 

 desiccation. Even under the best possible circumstances, with effec- 

 tive regional cooperation and massive foreign assistance, it would 

 take at least five to 10 years of consistent effort before any 

 progress in halting the Aral's destruction can be realized. Without 

 such cooperation, the Aral basin is likely to become an environ- 

 mental dead zone. 



Although the CIS is faced with a daunting legacy of environ- 

 mental problems, it is making progress in some areas. For exam- 

 ple, for several years they have been converting highly radioactive 

 civilian and military waste to glass in order to immobilize it and 

 make it more manageable. In other areas, key data on existing and 

 potential environmental problems does not exist because Soviet au- 

 thorities feared collecting the data might compromise secret activi- 

 ties. 



The CIS countries will be unable to meet the costs of cleanup, 

 estimated at billions of dollars. Russia took the lead in launching 

 an environmental protection plan based on economic incentives in 

 1991, but the lack of revenues as industrial output declines has re- 

 sulted in a negative balance that is getting worse. Although CIS 

 environmental ministers have agreed to cooperate on some environ- 

 mental issues, such as joining with the European community on 

 funds to help with costs incurred from Chernobyl, each country has 

 turned to the West for aid, including technology and expertise, and 

 will continue to do so. But they have yet to prioritize needs, or to 

 resolve such issues as ownership of land and industrial assets and 

 liability for damages. 



For its part, CIA and the Intelligence Community are helping 

 U.S. agencies working with the CIS to identify the most pressing 



