Assessment of Ecological Situation on the Territory of Russia Using the Method of Potential Surfaces of Human Impact

Abstract

For the first time rating of ecological state of all of 1100 Russian cities by an integral index of intensity of human impact on the environment, including air pollution, pollution of water resources, amount of solid consumer waste, heat and radiation contamination was made. An integrated approach to the ecological situation assessment of the Russian cities, which takes into account both the level of human impact in the settlement and pollution in the existing settlement system is proposed. The rationale and elaboration of this method acts as an important research task, because main social and ecological consequences of the territorial structure transformation of the economy can be assessed through the number of people living in conditions of varying degrees of pollution. As a result, there was developed a typology of cities in the country by the ratio of the internal pollution potential and “induced pollution” from other cities, calculated as the potential surfaces of human impact. Almost in half of Russian cities ecological situation has formed as a result of internal human impact. One-third of Russian cities are characterized by an equal contribution of inner legacy funds and external sources. However, every fifth city of Russia provides its environmental resources for settling and recreation, influenced by centers of agglomerations. The proposed measures to improve the ecological situation in the different types of cities and regions take into account the structural features of the integral index, as well as proportion of own and external components of the potential surfaces of human impact.