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Environmental activities

FSD remediates sites contaminated by toxic pollutants inherited from the past, particularly obsolete pesticides, waste from former uranium mining sites and heavy metals.

Bags-of-soil-contaminated-with-toxic-pesticides-ready-to-be-transferred-to-the-national-centre-in-Vahksh-(Tajikistan,-2018)

Bags of soil contaminated with toxic pesticides ready for transfer to the national centre in Vahksh. (Tajikistan, 2018)

An invisible threat

Toxic substances buried in the soil

In some countries, the pollution in the soil has a strong impact on the health of the populations affected and on ecosystems. Toxic pesticides and heavy metals seep into groundwater and the food chain, contaminating plants, micro-organisms, animals and humans.

Environment

Toxic pesticides

Since 2016, FSD has been working in Tajikistan to clean soils contaminated by ancient stocks of pesticides from the Soviet era. So far, such activities mainly involve removing the soils’ contaminated layers and transferring them to safe deposit storage and replacing them with clean soil.

At the same time, FSD is working with the United Nations to develop a technique to remediate contaminated soil in order to solve the problem for good.

Current operation
Tajikistan
Land contamined by obsolete pesticide in Tajikistan
Environment

Uranium

Between 2014 and 2020, FSD carried out several remediation projects in former uranium mining sites in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It conducted analyses of water and soil pollution levels and assessed the overall environmental impact. It took measures to decontaminate the affected areas: constructing fences, restoring the soils, covering waste stockpiles, and developing filtration methods for local communities.

The activities were carried out in collaboration with the Coordination Group for Uranium Legacy Sites (CGULS) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Soil containing uranium, Tajikistan
Environment

Heavy metals

Between 2012 and 2019, FSD took part in studies on the location of sites polluted by waste and remnants of the extractive industry, including heavy metals (mercury, lead and zinc) in Kyrgyzstan.

FSD took the following measures: water analysis, health assessments in affected communities, and, the development of measures to limit the leakage of toxic metals into the environment and ensuring safer access to food and water.

Analysis of water contaminated with heavy metals, Kyrgyzstan
Our impact

In 2021, our teams planted 3’500 trees to limit soil erosion around the obsolete national pesticide-deposit centre in Vakhsh, in Tajikistan.

Our impact
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