Topic One: Biological Diversity and Sustainable Development The depletion of biological diversity is an increasing area of concern. While the country's wildlife is among the richest and most diverse in Europe, changes in farming practices, trans-boundary pollution and urbanization are threatening natural habitats. Urbanization throughout Latvia has created poor conditions in large cities. Industrial towns produce large amounts of air pollution, wastewater and solid waste. As a result, there are deteriorating health and environmental conditions. …showed first 75 words of 868 total…

…showed last 75 words of 868 total…Baltic Sea deserve immediate attention. Reports of phosphorous and chlorophyll concentrations over the years serve as evidence of continuing eutrophication in the Gulf of Riga. Current findings from biological studies do not indicate any increase in eutrophication in the Latvian zone of the central Baltic Sea. Zones of ecological risk include coastal regions in the vicinity of river estuaries, municipal and industrial wastewater discharge locations, mineral extraction and gravel disposal sites, and regions surrounding ports.