Meshchaninova E.G., candidate of economic science, professor

Tkacheva O. A, candidate of agricultural science, professor

FSBEI HPE «Novocherkassk State Meliorative Academy»

ESTIMATION OF land-utilization TERRITORY: ecological-and-economic approach

The strategic goals of the Russian Federation regional policy at the present stage of the country development are:

· Improvement of ecological situation in regions of the Russian Federation.

· Fundamental improvement of the environmental conditions. This improvement could be achieved by the ecologization of economic activities within the institutional and structural reorganizations. These changes would establish a new management model and a wide application of ecologically focused management methods.

· Implementation of the economic activities based on the mass introduction of power- and resource-saving technologies, targeted changes in the structure of region economy.

Therefore the adequate estimation of land resources is essential for their preservation and rational use. The assessment of land-utilization territory should be conducted carefully considering regional characteristics. The most important of them are the availability of natural resources, their quantity, structure and quality; present ecological situation and environment conditions.

The term of land-utilization describes the rational use of land resources in economic, natural, ecological, technical, social and legal respects. The availability of land resources is the main condition for the placing of productive forces in the territory. The quantity, quality and a combination of natural resources define the natural resource potential of a territory. This potential defines the population locations and economic activities. The ecological economic estimation of land-utilization territory allows to make more justified estimation of its initial conditions and economic efficiency of development alternatives.

From the economic point of view land, especially cropland has the greatest value. However the usage of this natural object isn’t often rational. The natural resource potential of land-utilization affects its market specialization and its position in the territorial division of labor categorization. The placement and use of land resources in an administrative area influence the content and pace of the regional development. Rational use of land must be viewed in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. Analysis of existing methods shows that they had certain disadvantages:

-a large diversity of criteria;

-individual control of each component of the natural environment;

-weak occurrence of specific adverse effects of a technology and equipment;

-lack of rationale specific value equivalent for a given environmental impact unit (especially atmospheric pollution).

The ecological-economic evaluation of land resources of land-utilization includes the integration of many factors that determine the regional variations and significance of natural resources for life and human activities.

Before proceeding to environmental-economic assessment of natural resources it is necessary to evaluate the initial state of the land in the context of the environmental situation.

Offered by a number of authors factors for the agricultural enterprises of various ownership forms are calculated in assessing the ecological status of land-utilization (Table 1).

Table 1 – Indicators for evaluating ecological condition of land-utilization

Name of indicator	Calculation formula	Description
1 Factor of ecological stability of a territory (Кe)		Where Sst – area of an ecologically stabilizing land, hectare; St – total area, hectare.
2. Factor of anthropogenic stress of a territory (FAS)		Fyi – factor of anthropogenic stress of a land with following values: infrastructure-5; arable land, long-term plantings-4 improved fodder lands-3 natural boundaries-1. Si – the area of i-th ground, hectare.
3. Factor of anthropogenous intensity (FI)		Sl(1-3) – the area of natural fodder lands, hectare Sl(4-5) – the area of infrastructure, an arable land and long-term plantings, hectare.
4. Degree of stability of a landscape (Fs)		SQ – the area of grounds with adverse conditions, hectare; St – total area, hectare.
5. Factor of ecological intensity of territory (Fei)	S = SAD + SP + SW + SE + SEP	S – the area of the lands destabilizing an ecological situation, SAD, SP , SW , SE , SEP – the areas of anthropogenic disturbed, polluted, waste, eroded, erosion-prone lands accordingly, St – total area, hectare.

The analysis of agricultural enterprises has shown the impossibility of direct separation of the economic activity indicators from the land use indicators. Based on studies the authors suggest using the following economic factors for the evaluation of agricultural land (Table 2).

Table 2 – Indicators for assessing economic status of land-utilization

Name of indicator	Calculation formula	Description
1. The Index of territorial forest extent (IFOR)		Sfor – the area of forest plantations, hectare Stl – the total area of land-utilization, hectare
2. The factor characterized by the rate of land involvement for productive purposes (Finv )		Sagl - the area of agricultural land, hectare ; Stl – the total area of land-utilization, hectare
3. Proportion of arable land in farmland (PAL)		Sal – the area of arable land, hectare Stl –total area, hectare
4. The factor of land use efficiency (FLU)		P – average (regional or zone) sales price for 1 centner of a product, rub; OS – standard output per 1 hectare, centner (depending on the zone); CP – standart production costs, rub.

All the figures are converted into relative values (points) and the total score of economic conditions is determined. Based on the results of calculation a land valuation chart is prepared for a region administrative area. It is a part of the federal system that monitors regional socio-economic indicators.

References:

1. The concept of the strategy of socio-economic development of the Russian Federation regions [electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.ksocpol.rags.ru/files/konc_reg.htm # _Toc107440757

2. Tkacheva, O.A, Meshchaninova, E.G. Assessment of land-utilization for various forms of ownership in the Rostov region: a monograph. - Novocherkassk: UPC "Nabla" SRSTU (NPI), 2009. - 160.