ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF LANDSCAPES OF THE UPPER REACHES OF THE PRIPYAT RIVER BASIN

Abstract

The Pripyat River basin with its component subsystems (valley, slope and watershed) is a self-regulating system that is capable of functioning independently of the effect of external factors. The upper reaches of the Pripyat River basin in the territory of the Volyn region include the sub-basins of the Vyzhivka, the Turia, the Tsyr, the Stokhid, the Styr rivers, and the Pripyat itself. The analysis was performed on the basis of statistical data in the section of territorial communities located on this territory. As a result, the following features of the assessment of ecological stability of landscapes and ecological stabilization of biotechnical elements and the entire landscape are followed. The quantitative and qualitative assessment of the ecological stability of landscapes (KLES1) in the upper reaches of the Pripyat basin varies in the range of 0.22–5.39, therefore, depending on their location, the landscapes of the basin vary from unstable with pronounced instability to stable, with pronounced stability. The quantitative and qualitative assessment of the ecological stabilization of biotechnical elements and the entire landscape (KLES2) in the upper reaches of the Pripyat basin is in the range of 0.13–0.78, thus the landscapes of the basin vary from unstable to stable. The analysis of the land structure of the administrative divisions of the upper reaches of the Pripyat River basin within the boundaries of the Volyn region found that the areas occupied by unstable elements of the landscape are mostly located in the southern part of the basin within the boundaries of the Volyn highlands where its tributaries originate. The areas under agricultural crops and plant groupings which have a positive effect on the landscape are mostly located in the northern part of the basin within the Polissia lowlands where the riverbed of the Pripyat itself and the mouths of its tributaries, the Vyzhivka, the Turia, the Tsyr, the Stokhid, the Styr, are located.