Environmental Problems in Eastern Europe

Environmental problems and trans-boundary pollution are now of international concern. Recent political changes in Eastern Europe have revealed how extensive has been the environmental damage of four decades of socialism. This legacy is one of the region's chief obstacles in the transition to a market economy. The authors present case studies of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia and describe and analyse the major causes and consequences of air, water, soil and vegetation pollution. They focus in particular on the effects on the peoples of Eastern Europe and on the environmental quality of life.