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SECTION 4. SOCIAL-ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COASTAL ZONE 4.2. Coastal zone of the Republic of Kalmikiya The peculiarity of the development of the lagan area in the fact, that life of the population and the economic activity almost all over its territory is under long term, independent and active influence of the vibrations of the level of the Caspian Sea and especially during its last raising in 1978-1995. 4.2.1. Demography There are 24 thousand of people or 7,1 % of the total number of the population of the republic that lives on the coastal zone. Among the national groups of population the Kalmiks (50,8%) prevail over the rest. They came to these lands in XVII century, the specific weight of Russians is 32,1 %, kazakhs – 18,6% and Tatars – 1,7%. The population of the coastal area gets down all these past years – annual decrease in only the tens portion of the per cent during the small natural growth and significant migration of the population, reasoned by the low level of life and consequences of the flooding of the territories by the Caspian Sea. In the structure of the population the share of women is 10% higher than that of men, approximately 1/3 of all population is below 16 years old. The system of the population is formed by the administrative centers, situated in the northern part of the zone: administrative center Lagan (16,1 thousand people), city type settlement Ulan-Khol (3,1 thousand people) and 4 settlements: Krasinskoye, Burannoye, Jalikovo and Severnoye with the population of 4,5 thousand people. Accordingly, the share of urban people is 80% and the village people is 20%. There is no stable population in the southern part from the Caspian deposits of oil and gas up to the borders wit the Republic of Dagestan. The functioning and further development of the modern system of the population is bond with the necessity to realize the measured to provide the security of people and economy in the condition of the vibrations of the sea especially the raising of the sea level and wind pileups. The migration of 3000 people due to the flooding of the places of habitation as a result of the recent raising of the sea level is the most important problem.
4.2.2. Social sphere. As per the provision by the object of the social sphere, such as, health system, education and culture, the coastal zone is behind other similar places in the Republic. Almost all the spheres of the activity – hospitals, schools, clubs and other are in the unprepared and dangerous buildings and they all are in the zone of active flooding by sea. Their technical provision with equipment is not satisfactory. The social sphere quantifiably and qualitatively does not answer the requirements of the minimal social provision of the population. Main part of institutions of the social sphere is concentrated in the administrative center of lagan, where 2/3 of the population of the coastal zone lives. The provision of the population with the places in hospitals, clinics and other medical enterprises is not enough, there is a lack of doctors. He central rayon hospital is in Lagan with its branch in Jalikovo settlement. Its logistical base is not enough, there is a problem in provision by medicine and syringes. The first aid and emergency is not always provided in time. There are no preventive measure against the spread of infections diseases. The low level of the provision of medical help in the conditions of low real revenues of the population, bad quality of the drinking water and not favorable ecological environment leads to the growth of the sickness rate for infections and other bad and severe diseases. There is a growth of sickness rate of such diseases as cancer, heart diseases, diseases of kidney, liver, tract. In accordance with that the main medical-sanitary index demonstrates a high level of death cases, sickness. The average life span is below the relative levels all over republic and Russian Federation. The index of the natural growth of the population are the lowest in Kalmikiya. Already from the middle of 90s the mortality was almost equal to birth. According to the index of mortality the rayon holds one of the first places in the republic for a long time. The index of child mortality is one of the highest in the republic. There are institutions of education – several secondary schools, the art and music schools for children, youth sports school, others; of culture - libraries, museum, the house of culture and clubs. In all other inhabited points there are only secondary schools and clubs, and no high educational institutions. There is a lack of schools and teachers, the schools work in 2-3 shifts. 10 of acting secondary schools 7 require full refurbishment. Only 4 schools are provided by water pipeline, 2 are provided by central heating. Majority of schools do not have full set of rooms – sports halls, workshops). One of the main tasks of the development of the education and culture is the reconstruction of the traditions and culture of Kalmiks. The realization of the Federal aim programme of social-economic development of the Republic of Kalmikiya and national-cultural revival of the Kalmik nation plays an important role in the revival of the traditions and culture of Kalmiks. Natural and climatic conditions of the coastal zone are favorable for the organization and development of the active types of tourism. There are not constant institutions of rest and health care, there is only one summer camp for schoolchildren. There are also the projects to create tourism centers, including the ones with the depot ship and fixed houses.
4.2.3. Economical activity. In the conditions of the big scale economical crisis in the low Lagan rayon the situation is additionally complicated by raising of the sea level and this directly effects all the fields of economy and life activity of rayon. Almost all economical activity and first of all the production is concentrated in the northern past of the coastal zone: the manufacturing in Lagan and Ulan-Kholl settlement; agriculture in settlements Severnoye, Krasinskoye, Jalikovo nd Burannoye. In the southern part only the pastures for pasturing the sheep of Dagestan farms are used. The agricultural economy prevails in the economy of the coastal zone, its total share into the volume of the trade production of the industry and agriculture is over 60%. The manufacturing production is represented by separate and not very big enterprises, including the machine building ones – its specific weight in the volume of manufacturing production is 69,2%, the specific weight of the food industry is 26,9%, for constructional material industry, light and oil exploring ones it is 1% for each. During 90s the volume of the manufacturing production decreased, its specific weight is a bit more than 1% of the specific weight of the republic in comparison with 20% in 1991. All main enterprises of the industry are in Lagan: Caspian machine building plant, Meat canning center and fish making plant, sewing factory, brick making plant. The exploration of oil is realized by “Kalmneft”. The Caspian machine building plant is one of the biggest machine building enterprises in the republic and is specialized on the production of automobiles with special body and tank. The annual power of the plant is 6000 automobiles, the quantity of staff is about 1000 people or 10% of all the people working in the economical fields. The agricultural enterprises of many rayons of the country, mainly Northern Caucasus and Povoljye used to be the main purchasers of the production. In the conditions of the economical crisis the production of automobiles with special bodies was stopped and the plant is practically not active nowadays. A lot of variants of its reconstructions were looked at, however they could not find required investors. Other industrial enterprises of Lagan are in a bit better condition, although the volumes of production are significantly reduced. The fish making plant with the power of remaking of 2300 tons of fish with 350 people engaged into the working process produces a frozen and cooled, dried and salty, fish, arriving from the local fish catching farms, as well as the fish products, caviar and other food products. During the 90s the fish production was reduced for 2/3 of the previous volume. The projects on reconstruction of the production and its technological renovation should strengthen the financial and economical condition of the enterprise. The meat canning center with the productive power of 2560 tons per year with 350 people engaged in the production has significantly reduced the volumes of the remade meat, the production of sausages and meat products in accordance with the decrease of its production. The main problem of the reconstruction of the center is the enlargement of the nomenclature of the production and its technological re-aiming for the production of the competitive production. The sewing machine (100 people engaged) produces a low competitive product of limited choice for local markets only and it has decreased its production in 90s. The brick plant is of 3 million items of brick and partly covers the requirements of the coastal zone in the constructional material. The oil exploration on the Caspian exploration of oil and Ulan-Kholl oil deposits after its decrease in the first half of 90s is 15 thousand tons and has won the stable tendency of the growth. In the perspectives this can lead to the creation of the local oil exploring and oil refining complexes on the base of the deposits of the hydrocarbon raw material of the coastal zone, including the adjoining part of the area of water of the sea. The fish making compIex, including the fish remaking plant and fish trading enterprise plays an important role in the economy of the coastal zone. Vobla, perch, bream, cat-fish, sturgeons and others are the main trade products of the catch. The fish catching in the beginning of 90s prevailed 2500 tons, the number of people engaged in the production was about 770 people or 7% of the total number of all the people engaged in the economy. In the end of 90s the volume of fish catch was reduced to ¾ from the level of 1991. The perspectives of the development of the fish complex is bond with the widening of the trade rayon, technical re-aiming of the fish remaking powers, creation of the own trade fleet for the catch fish in far away rayons of the areas of water of the Caspian Sea. This can lead to the increase of the compatibility of its production. Today the fish catching is realized from the small ships not far away from the coast. Fish reserves of sturgeons and fine-meshes of Kalmik zone of the fish catching are mastered for less than half. At present all the big enterprises of the industry are share certified. The service is provided mainly by small private enterprises with the 1 to 10 people engaged in the work process. The enterprises of the communal infrastructure are part of the municipal property. The agriculture of Lagan rayon is the leading sphere of economy and is specialized on the cattle breeding, the base of which is the sheep breeding – the traditional type of activity of the population. The square of the agricultural areas is 263,7 thousand ha, 257,5 thousand ha of them are pastures (97,6%) and 2,2 thousand ha are tillage (0,8%). The private farms occupy quite notable place in the production of the agricultural production – they give ¼ of whole farming production and 1/3 of the livestock breeding. Farms have limited meaning, they have about 18 thousand ha of the agricultural areas (6,6% of all agricultural territories of rayon), including 40 ha (1,8%) of tillage and 17 thousand ha of pastures (6,5%). Tillage is used for the sowing of vegetable and melon and gourds, potato; there are 8 thousand sheep on the pastures. The share of main types of the agricultural production in rayon is estimated 5% of meat, 1,5% of vegetable, 5,2% of melon and gourds and 1,7% of potato. The livestock breeding fields of the extensive type with the specification of the pasture livestock breeding and sheep breeding prevails in the farms (sheep livestock is about 60 000 heads) with some input by non agricultural fields, such as fish trading. Each farm cultivates the crops, vegetables, potato and melon and gourds for the local markets. Insignificant share of processed lands does not allow to receive high revenues from the farming, thus, the main part of the revenue is received from the livestock breeding. The meat direction prevails in the livestock production, the sale of milk plays a significant role only in the state farm “Krasinskiy” and collective farm “Krasniy moryak”. The sheep breeding is the leading field of ‘Jalikovo”, the revenue is received from the wool sale. ‘Kaspiyets” and “Krasinskiy” farms have canning workshops and produce vegetables and potato. The workshops on preliminary remaking of fish belong to “Krasniy moryak” and “Kaspiyez” The financial-economical condition of the agricultural enterprises received a very negative effect from the flooding of their territories during the last raising of the sea level. The agricultural lands are effected y the processes of deserting, lose their festivity, the irrigational systems are mainly destroyed and need a full reconstruction, the manufacturing constructions are in the emergency condition. In accordance with that the structures of the land use have disappeared. Today 40% of them are occupied by lands that became quite useless for the agricultural use(swamps, lands under water, bush growing lands, sands). During crisis 90s the share of lagan rayon in the common republican volume of production reduced from 10 to 2 %. At the same time the prevailing role of livestock breeding remained in the structure of agriculture, despite of decrease of the livestock of sheep to 1/3 in comparison with the results of 1991. The sector of private trade and services is well developed in Lagan due to the common economical fall down. Main part of industrial and production goods are imported from other regions of Russia, meat, wool and fish are the only products exported in small volumes. Regular destroying floods lead to the sharpening of the communal problems in the rayon. Thus, 400 families of those that were moved out from the catastrophic flood in March 1995 still do not have proper housing. As a result the level of the registered unemployment in Lagan reached 23% in comparison with the 7% of the unemployment in the republic. Average financial revenues of people decreased significantly and became 1,8 times less than the average republican level. This is the lowest index among the regions of Russia. And accordingly, the share of population, having the income less than the living wage is now 78%. The economical difficulties, social disorder, difficult ecological conditions are the reasons of the outflow of more active, able-bodied part of the population of the rayon. At the same time a notable reanimation of the economical activity was noticed in some fields for the past period. In the conditions of the passing economy the formation of new market r elations take place. Private business undertakings and production are getting developed.
4.2.4. Communal and productive infrastructure. The provision of the reasonable communal services is hold back due to the shortage of developed systems of electrical provision, heat provision, water provision and drainage and a very low quality of their equipment with a huge worn out of the equipment and the condition of emergency of the majority of it due to the flooding by sea waters as a result of raising of the sea level. The coastal area has no local sources of electrical energy. The provision with electricity is realized through the lines of electro energy of 220, 110, 35, 10 and 0,4 KV with the length of the line 1100 km. The provision of economic activity, industrial, agricultural productivity is very low, There are 234 km of the lines of the electrical power and 37 transforming substations, the physical worn out of the equipment is 40%. 13 km of the line needs an urgent reconstruction. The level of gasification of the rayon is very low, only 13% for the settlements. The provision with gas is very limited in Lagan, Krasinskoye and Jalikovo settlements. Along with that there are possibilities to do the full gasification of the whole coastal area by means of branching from the main gas pipeline and sleeve gas networks. The centralized heat provision is active only in Lagan, the length of the heat providing network is 15 km, the worn out of the system and equipment is 65%. To preserve the system the full reconstruction of 5 km of the system and the boiler shop equipment is urgently required. The problem of provision with drinking water that would answer the sanitary requirements is the most difficult one. There is a deficit of not only drinking water, but also the water for the economical purposes and that is bound with the absence of water flows and high salinity of the underground waters. The majority of the population of lagan uses sea water for drinking. It is desalinated by the flow of Volga river, the population of Ulan-Kholl are provided by the exported water. The low quality of the drinking water is the reason for the growth of the hypertensive, kidney, gallstone diseases. The level of the presence of these diseases is higher than all over the country. For water provision of Lagan the water is given from the Krasinskiy water reservoir, filled by the water of Volga. The length of water networks of the city is 27 km, the drainage system lines are three times less. At the same time the power of the drainage system is 18 times less than that of the water providing system. There are not water purifying systems and that lead to the pollution of underground and adjoining waters. Local networks of the water provision and drainage are available on the animal farms “Lagansky” and s. Jalikovo. The physical worn out of the networks of water provision and drainage is dramatic, their technical condition is not satisfactory and it needs an urgent technical renovation and reconstruction. To provide the water and drainage systems it is important to build the water pipelines of total length of 30 km, drainage network of 25 km and purifying constructions of adequate power. The transport communications do not provide the requirement of the economy and population and does not allow its economical development, the exploration of oil and gas. Almost the whole volume of the cargo and passenger transportations are realized by means of auto-transport through the republic main highway lagan-Ulan-Kholl-Ashkul-Alista, with hard cover and length of 300 km. The auto artery does not have enough of gas fuel stations and technical service provision. At the same time Lagan does not have stable auto-transport connection with the Astrakhan oblast and Republic of Dagestan. Along the territory of the Ulan-Kholl rayon there is only one railway Kizlyar-Astrakhan long as 51 km. At present it has no transport load. The coastal position of Lagan rayon is not used to the development of the transport network. At present lagan is bound with sea through the ship channel, the parameters of which are enough for the pass of small fish catching ships, that deliver the caught fish to the fish making plant. There is no airline connection.
4.2.5. Ecological risks The danger that the situation of the environment of the costal zone of the Republic of Kalmikiya would get worse are carried by the developing processes of the deserting of lands, the flooding of the territories, bound with the raising of the sea level, escapes of polluting substances by the enterprises of the industry and communal utilities (table 4.2.5.1). The creation of new ecological threats is bound in the perspective with the possible creation of the big marine transport in the rayon of Lagan. Periodical vibrations of the sea level (amplitude more than 3 meters in the last century) as the brightest natural characteristic of the Caspian basin, that has the defining effect onto the condition of the natural ecosystems and the ecological problem as well as defining the conditions of life activities of the population of such lowering like Lagan rayon. The short term, but quite often pileups are characteristic for the lagan rayon. Up to 50% of the lands can be flooded during the raisings of the level of the Caspian Sea. One of strongest marine pileups took place in march 1995, (the level of water reached 319 cm) when some people died, 900 people were evacuated and 441 house were flooded. The pileup resulted the break of water holding constructions and the flooding of several significant squares, including several blocks of lagan. Table 4.2.5.1. The estimation of the ecological risks of the coastal area of the Republic of Kalmikiya (considering the ecological importance of the object of effect)
1- ordinary level of effect; 2- increased; 3 - high In the conditions of the regular pileup phenomena the main part of roads of the region is set by means of the mounds. Besides, the upper part of the defensive ground dams, built around main inhabited points in the coastal area (Lagan, Severnoye, Krsinskoye, Djalikovo, Burannoye) is turned into the roads. All this allows to form a system of so-called “checks” – the closed drainless plain sectors on which the processes of the swamping, raising of the level of ground waters and the salinization of the ground. The land resources, mainly the agricultural areas, more than 98 % of which are the pastures, are effected by the erosion processes. The aqueous-physical means of the soil are getting worse and worse with full lose of their productivity. The processes of deserting and secondary salinization take place here, and this is quite often together with the processes of flooding. The growth of squares of moving sands can be observed in the coastal zone. More than 45 % of the whole square of pastures is in the condition of high and very high level of trashing. The main reason of the processes of deserting is the unsystematic and irrational use of pastures with the increase of the allowed load by the pasture of sheep. As a result the square of the degrading pastures, including the open sand areas, has reached 205,7 thousand ha, including the open sand areas of 25,5 thousand ha. These are the degrading pastures of the Black soils which make the first anthopogenic desert in Europe. The measures taken to fight the deserting process of Black soils gave reasonal results in the beginning of 90s. However, the full stoppage of the financing of works took place and the annual volumes of melioration were dropped to minimum. The processes of deserting are getting out of the control and that effects the level of production and leads to the social tense among the population. An urgent support of measures on overcoming the destroying processes of land deserting, stabilization of the situation with the degrading pastures, the reconstruction and preservation of fertility of soils on the bases of realization of soil protecting activities with the transfer to the adapted landscape system of irrigation is necessary. The first in the row of tasks must be the strengthening of open sand massifs with the help of agricultural wood melioration works. In the result of characteristic pileup phenomena for the region, the flooding of all inhabited points, agricultural areas, places of the cattle containing, irrigational systems, oil exploring deposits the pollution of the upper flow and ground waters by oil products, the salt of heavy metals, the wastes of poisonous chemicals and fertilizers and others take place. This increases the arrival of different types of pollution from the land into the sea waters. The vast reed growing and another coastal flora that is the natural water purifier as well as the graves for cattle and storage for muck were flooded. As a result of this the shallow sectors of the sea get infected by sulfur. The development of the processes of soil salinization and hydromorphization of the flora takes place; the character of the ecosystem changes accordingly The worsening of the conditions of the water provision, the enlargement of sources of infections and other diseases appeared to be the most negative consequence of the processes. The downgrading of the effectiveness of the industrial and agricultural productions became less effective, the recreational attractiveness of the coastal area also decreased. The escape of polluted sewage of the enterprises of industry and communal utilities of Lagan economy and the economy of the settlement Ulan-Kholl without the filtration onto the natural fields promotes the high level of bacterial and chemical pollution of the upper flow and ground waters of the coastal area and finally, he local sectors of the Caspian Sea. The pollution of the desalinated sea waters when there are no water preparing constructions, worsens the conditions of the provision of the population with drinking water. The squares of territories occupied by communal and industrial wastes increases in the inhabited areas. The pollution of the soil in the region of Caspian oil deposit and Ulan-Kholl oil and gas deposits by the oil products and other polluting substances is also a very dangerous thing to happen. At present the problem of the preservation of the biological variety becomes more and more actual because the main variety of species of the republic is concentrated exactly in these areas. The obvious consequence of the increase of the sea level of the Caspian Sea, besides the processes that lead to the degrading of soil resources and the resources of flora, is the process of decreasing of biological variety. All the species that are not adapted to the new life conditions are being forced out by the raising of the sea level. The negative changes took place in the content of flora: huge squares have lost the longstanding plants and less valuable, ephemeal plants, weeds took place of those species that stepped out. One of the most beautiful flowers in the republic – the tulip - is at the lowest level of its survival. The coastal boundary of the Lagan rayon is the place of massif nesting of water-swimming and near-water birds, it is also one of the biggest places of the concentration of the migrating geese. Here you can find the species included into the red Book, such as flamingo, pelicans, black-head merry fellow, little bastard, sweeps and others. The semi-deserted areas are the place of nesting and wintering of bastard, little bastard, and others.. The ichtiofauna of the Kalmik coast of the Caspian Sea counts about 30 species of fish. As per the number of species the family of carps is the leading one. The sturgeons are represented by 4 species: Russian sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, white sturgeon and sterlet. The level raising of the sea promoted the increase of the natural reproduction of fish (the increase of the potential areas for spawning, food productivity). However, the cases of poisoning by sulfur were also noted, and this bound with the massif decay of organic in the reed-growing areas and this negatively effected the conditions of spawning places and the places of developing of the valuable fish species, including sturgeons. At present the decrease of sturgeons was noted and this is happening due to the uncontrolled catch of the fish, poaching and the undefined status of the Caspian Sea. There are regional zoological reserves “Caspiyskiy” and “Morskoy Biruchok” situated on the territory of the rayon. An important problem of preservation of the semi-deserted ecological systems of Lagan rayon and the republic as a whole is the prevention of the further degradation of the Kalmik population of saiga, conditioned by the decrease of the area of its natural habitation and the worsening of the natural conditions of reproduction (the raising of the level of the Caspian Sea and the flooding of seasonal pastures, as well as the growth of the poaching. In 2000 the quantity of saiga decreased 27 thousand against the 220 thousand of heads in the middle of 80s.
4.2.6. The level of survey and perspectives of the development. In the second half of 90s the researches to estimate the natural effect onto the ecosystems, land use and health of the population in the conditions of the raising of the level of Caspian Sea (the Institute on Geography) and the processes of the movement of dust and salt and the washout of aerosols from the territory of the rayon, effected by the deserting processes (the Institute on Physics of the atmosphere) were provided by the leading academic institutions of the country along with the local specialists. The social-economical conditions were analyzed when preparing the project of the Federal aim programme “The complex development of the territory of Russian Federation, adjoining the Caspian Sea”. The perspectives of the social-economical development of Lagan rayon are bound with the beginning exploration of hydrocarbon deposits, found in the coastal line. The profitable geographical position of Kalmikiya, its closeness to big industrial centers of the south of Russian Federation, potential possibilities of the enlargement of transport connections allow to approach the use of fuel and energetic resources of the republic from new positions. The economical situation and the level of life of the population can significantly change to better side in case of realization of the international project on creation of transport corridor “North-South” with the passage through the territory of Russia and the region of the Caspian Sea. The content of the project considers the creation of the big transport joint on the territory of lagan with the marine port, serving the marine way lagan-Nau-Shakhe (Iran) with the railway and automobile arteries. This initiative of the republic is supported by the authorities of the Russian Federation and the executive bodies of power and was discussed by Iran. In the conditions of the regular vibrations of the level of the Caspian Sea the strategy of the economical activity of the rayon must assume mainly not the struggle with the consequences of the regular level changes, but the adaptation to them. The look at the numerous social-economic and ecological problems of the lagan rayon on the basis of the modern, approbated and widely used method (methodology of the complex management by coastal zones) would allow to objectively approach the estimation of the social-economical situation in the rayon, look at the social-economic, legal, ecological, institutional problems of harmonization of relationship of users of various natural resources of the rayon, the preliminary steps out of the crisis. The fulfillment of such a work base don the internationally accepted and appreciated approaches and terms, would seriously increase the attractiveness for investments into the rayon of both national and foreign investors. |
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