The Rosia Montana gold and silver mining project in Romania's Apuseni Mountains has been in and out of the environmental headlines in recent years. It is a fascinating case of the new market economy trying to conduct a dirty old industrial activity in a completely new and much cleaner way – at least in Romania.

Central Asia is a disaster-prone area, exposed to various natural hazards such as floods, droughts, avalanches, rockslide and earthquakes. It is also vulnerable to man-made disasters related to industrial activity and the radioactive and chemical dumps inherited from the Soviet period. Several factors - population density in disaster-prone areas, high overall population growth, poverty, land and water use, failure to comply with building codes an...

The Arctic is home to approximately 4 million people, with the share of indigenous and non-indigenous populations varying widely between the Arctic states. Larger settlements are usually located in resource-strategic positions. Rich deposits of natural resources are spurring industrial activity in the region. The Russian Arctic, for example, holds 1.5 of the country’s population, but accounts for 11% of its gross domestic product and 22% of its e...

This graphic illustrates the strong link between areas with high densities of industrial activity and zones of seasonally oxygen-depleted waters. There is a strong link between areas with high densities of industrial activity and zones of seasonal oxygen-depleted waters. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on treating and reducing municipal and industrial waste, and on reducing nitrogen levels in agricultural runoff. However, less...