Natural Resources and Environment
NATURAL RESOURCES
Forests
Nizhny Novgorod region is rich with forest resources. Over 50% of the area is covered with forests, making the total of 4,008.6 thousand hectares.
Natural Complexes under Protection
Lands under special protection make up to 6.23% of the total area of the region. There are 287 species of animals and 275 species of plants and mushrooms included in the Red Book of the region.
Water Resources
Regional headwaters are Gorky and Cheboksary dam ponds, over 9,000 rivers and streams with the total length of 26,000 kilometers. The main waterway is the Volga river, the biggest in Europe. It has two navigable tributaries – the Oka and the Sura. Explored usable ground water resources make 2,724.063 thousand cubic meters per day. The total annual diversion flow (to meet daily needs) is 1.2 billion cubic meters per year.
Mineral Resources and Raw Materials
The only natural energy and fuel resource available in the region is peat. The basic list of minerals to be used as construction materials include sands (deposits of over 300 million cubic meters), carbonate rock (deposits of about 360 million cubic meters), gypsum and anhydrite (deposits of 840 million tons). Reserves of the largest in Europe Gremaychevskoye deposit of carbonate rock make 115 million cubic meters, of Belbazhskoye deposit of halite 2.5 billion tons, of the deposit of zirconia sand 31 million tons.
ENVIRONMENTAL SITUATION
Nizhny Novgorod region is one of the largest industrial regions in Russia with a big share of processing industries. It means that there is high negative impact on environment and health of communities.
Thanks to the environmental policy and nature-oriented measures the situation in the region is rather stable.