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Environment and Security
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Another dimension of Environment and Se-
curity analysis is the impact of military ac-
tivities on a specific area. The anxiety about
security fuelled by the Cold War also had
significant environmental consequences
for Soviet Central Asia. The construction
and operation of military-industrial facili-
ties and weapons testing sites caused the
arms race’s greatest environmental impact.
In the region this was particularly apparent
in Kazakhstan, where the vast steppes lent
themselves to the creation of large-scale
military testing ranges stretching for hun-
dreds of kilometres, now often polluted
with rocket fuel and radioactivity making
agricultural use of the land either difficult
or impossible. The Soviet nuclear industry
also flourished in the region until the early
1990s, for example at the formerly “secret”
town of Aktau where it created a large ura-
nium-tailing dump and onshore nuclear
station. Major military sites in Kazakhstan
included the nuclear and weapon test sites
of Azgir, Kapustin Yar, Taysogan, Ashuluk
and Say-Utes, as well as the uranium-min-
ing industry in Aktau.
Activities in the military ranges in the north-
east Caspian region had numerous impacts
on the environment, the health of the local
civilian population and their livelihoods.
Most of all these activities reduced scope
Legacy of the military-industrial
complex
Environmental degradation and security