Ukraine Faces Many Problems In Environment

Ukraine faces a number of environmental problems in addition to the much-publicized Chernobyl meltdown, a high-ranking Ukrainian official said yesterday at a Ukrainian Research Institute seminar.

Andriy Demydenko, who heads the Department of Environmental Education, Information and Public Relations at the Ministry for Environmental Protection of Ukraine, addressed about 45 people at the event.

``Aside from Chernobyl, our first priority is drinking water,'' 80 percent of which is polluted, he said.

A member of the Political Council of the Green Party of Ukraine, Demydenko said he is also concerned about the influence of industrial pollution on air and soil quality.

In the last few years, environmentalists in Ukraine have been able to pass many environmental bills. However, excessive bureaucracy often renders this new legislation useless, he said.

In an attempt to address these problems, Demydenko is working to convert the Kiev Mohyla Academy, founded in 1615, from a naval academy to a private university focusing on environmental issues. This project was made possible by an agreement signed last February between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In a cooperative agreement between the EPA and the North American Association for Environmental Education completed this August, the EPA agreed to provide $100,000, as well as technology and equipment to assist the Ukrainian environmental research center. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will also contribute about $57,000 to help start up the private university. Construction is expected to begin in September 1993.