The indicator “conservation of landscape diversity” in regional environmental programs: structure and algorithm of usage

Current regional development strategies are based on the principles of sustainable development and are designed to ensure social and economic well-being in an ecologically balanced environment. The environmental component of this triad is the basis of the environmental policy of the regions, which is implemented through solving the tasks outlined in environmental programs. 

The main cause of the low effectiveness of these programs is the use of indicators/indices that do not allow for a realistic assessment of the effectiveness of solving the set tasks. A typical example of this problem is the use of the indicator “conservation of landscape diversity” in programs. Due to the poor methodological elaboration, it is used by analogy with the indicator “conservation of biodiversity”, the quantitative indicator of which is an increase in the share of specially protected natural areas.

The purpose of this work is to reveal the essence and structure of landscape diversity as an indicator of spatial changes in the context of management decisions to preserve the diversity of natural complexes on the territory. The content of the indicator “conservation of landscape diversity” is presented and the stages of its realization are outlined. The most difficult stage of landscape cartographic analysis is considered on the example of the territory of two large natural objects of the Khabarovsk Territory: Northern Sikhote-Alin and the Central Amur lowland. The content of the stage reflects the sequence of identifying key landscape territories — natural standards (typical, relict, unique, highly vulnerable geosystems) of Khabarovsk Territory, which are subject to protection and defense in the legal status. They stand out from the totality of ecologically significant landscapes that perform environment-forming functions at the regional level (in the territory of Northern Sikhote-Alin they occupy 50.8% of the area, in the Central Amur lowland — 37.9%). The allocation of the actual key territories should take place in the future with a deeper study of the contours of the identified geosystems. Their areas are also determined by the representation of natural complexes in the landscape structure at the national and regional levels, based on the possible application of a set of use regimes. The solution of these issues will expand theoretical knowledge on the formation of regional environmental policy and enrich the practice of monitoring spatial transformations under the influence of anthropogenic loads, which is required due to the limited number of works in this field.

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