Geography and Environment
Ukraine's Geography
Located in Eastern Europe, Ukraine is bordered by Romania (southwest), Hungary and Slovakia (west), Poland (northwest), Belarus (north), Russia (east), and the Black Sea (south). Strategically located between Europe and Asia, Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. Ukraine's landscape is mostly made up of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus. There are two major mountains in Ukraine; the Carpathian Mountains in the west and the Crimea Mountains in the south on the Crimean peninsula. The Carpathian Mountains are the second longest mountain range in Europe, running through other countries, including Romania, Slovakia, and Poland. Hora Hoverla is the highest point of the Carpathian Mountains, reaching a height of 6,762 feet. There are several rivers which flow through Ukraine including the Dnieper, Seversky Donets, Dniester, and the Southern Buh. These rivers flow into the Black Sea and/or the Sea of Azov.
The climate in Ukraine is mostly temperate continental, especially in the steppe areas. However, the Crimean coast experiences a more Mediterranean climate. Precipitation is not evenly distributed. The west and north tend experience more precipitation than the south and east regions. Winters tend be cool near the Black Sea, but get colder further inland. Summers are hotter in the southern region, but mild and warm across most of the country. Ukraine has several natural resources including iron ore, coal, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, and arable land. Over 50% of the land is arable, but only about 1.5% of the land is used for permanent crops. Ukraine is currently facing some environmental issues, such as inadequate supplies of of potable water, air and water pollution, and deforestation. The area surrounding Chernobyl is also still recovering the 1986 Nuclear Power Plant accident. |
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Biodiversity-Cultural Connections
As you may recall from above, Ukraine is split into four eco-regions: Polissia (woodland), Forest-steppe, Steppe, and Mountains. The Forest-Steppe and Steppes cover the majority of the country. These regions are home to rich black soils and arable lands that are the USDA has identified as hardiness zone 5. Hardiness zones determine the specific categories of plants and vegetation that will thrive in a geographic location. Some of the agricultural crops that grow in hardiness zone 5 include, but are not limited to; beets, beans, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, cabbage, carrots, celery, potatoes, radishes, raspberries, spinach, and strawberries. The area seems to be most appropriate for the cultivation of berries and root vegetables. These berries and vegetables are extremely common in Ukrainian cuisine. This area is also able to grow such grains as wheat, barley, rapeseed, and maize.
During Soviet times Ukraine, was known as the "bread-basket of Europe" because of its rich black soils and agricultural success provided one-fourth of the Soviet Union's agricultural output, feeding the majority of the Union (MFA of Ukraine). Today agriculture represents about 10% of the country's GDP. Unfortunately, agriculture (along with urbanization) also contributes to environmental threats. Ukraine's biodiversity faces such threats as "fragmentation of landscapes, the development of infrastructure and urbanization, pollution, over-exploitation of bioresources, direct and indirect extinction of biological species, destruction of certain types of landscapes as a result of agricultural activities, reduction of numbers and/or abundance of species and/or population to the critical level, introduction of alien biological species and use and release of organisms modified as the result of biotechnical measures (GMO)" ("status and trends", 2013). |