Geoecological indicators of sustainable development: Spatial analysis

Abstract

Ecological processes of modernization of regional economic systems by means of dynamics of indicators of impact on the environment in Russian regions are investigated. To receive quantitative features, we used one of geoecological indicators of quality of the environment of economic growth - "eco-intensity". It characterizes the level of negative impact on environment per unit of the result of economic activity. An indicator of the environmental load is the volume of air pollutant emissions from stationary sources (including the most common pollutants: solids, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides). The gross regional domestic product (converted into 2005 constant prices in conjunction with official GRDP growth rates) is used as a characteristic of the result of economic activity in the regions. The study of the dynamics of eco-intensity of air pollutant emissions was carried out in different time intervals: 2005-2009, 2009-2013 and 2013-2016. Special attention is paid to the study of environmental aspects of the development of the mining industry, which is the basis of economic activity of many resource-extracting regions of the Russian Federation. For the spatial analysis of the dynamics of the studied geo-ecological indicators the tools of GIS-technologies were used. Assessment of the dynamics of eco-intensity of air pollutant emissions from stationary sources showed that in recent years there has been a marked increase in the number of regions characterized by an increase in the specific environmental load. The worst dynamics of eco-intensity of emissions of the most common pollutants was observed in the regions of Siberia, the Far East and the Urals, as well as in few regions of the European part of the Russian Federation. Natural resource extraction and processing activities have a significant negative impact on the natural environment. In some resource-extracting regions, the eco-intensity of emissions in the mining industry was significantly higher than for the economy as a whole. The results of a comparative analysis of the environmental and economic development of the mining industry showed that in some regions there was an increase in eco-intensity (in some it was very noticeable). The results allow us to conclude that the existing state institutions do not fully fulfill their task of regulation in order to stimulate environmental modernization and sustainable development of the regions.