Environment and Security

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Environment and Security 40 /

Deforestation and overuse of pasture are issues of growing concern, which may degenerate into a security problem, particularly in border areas and enclaves. Badly maintained radioactive dumps and tailing contain- ments, and several working industrial facilities constitute environmental hotspots. In a few cases national and regional authorities, and the general public, see pollution as a major issue and a security threat . The fact that the activities giv- ing rise to environmental concern are often essential to the economy too certainly contributes to the cautious approach to industrial pollution generally adopted by the various

Establishing international borders has made access to water resources and upkeep of the water infrastructure an extremely complex issue. Tension and even localized violent clashes over access to water are recurrent along the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. However tension over access to water is also common in mono-ethnic and non-border communities, where disputes often have an elite dimension and mostly involve local com- munities and district or regional authorities. Disputes and tension between collective farms and private farmers will become more frequent especially if authorities continue their policy of supporting collective farms.

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