Regional Environmental Issues in Kyrgyzstan
- Wastes of Mining Industry. Waste of the mining industry poses a direct threat to the environment of both Kyrgyzstan and neighboring countries. Located at high elevations in a fragile mountain environment the mining industry has generated hundreds of millions of tons of waste rock and tailings in dumps and tailings ponds which serve as a source of permanent pollution of the environment by heavy metals, radioactive materials and cyanides. The bulk of the mining waste is located in river basins and since Kyrgyzstan belongs to those areas subjected to a great extent to natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides, presents high risk of trans-boundary pollution. The potentially affected population in Kyrgyzstan, and near border areas of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan is estimated as of 5 million.
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