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MoldovaEnvironmental Concerns
Moldova's communist-era environmental legacy, like that
of
many other former Soviet republics, is one of
environmental
degradation. Agricultural practices such as overuse of
pesticides, herbicides, and artificial fertilizers were
intended
to increase agricultural output at all costs, without
regard for
the consequences. As a result, Moldova's soil and
groundwater
were contaminated by lingering chemicals, some of which
(including DDT) have been banned in the West.
Such practices continue in Moldova to the present day.
In the
early 1990s, per hectare use of pesticides in Moldova
averaged
approximately twenty times that of other former Soviet
republics
and Western nations. In addition, poor farming methods,
such as
destroying forests to plant vineyards, have contributed to
the
extensive soil erosion to which the country's rugged
topography
is already prone.
Data as of June 1995
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