Assessment of the ecological situation in russia using the method of potential surfaces of human impact

Abstract

For the first time, a rating of the ecological state was made for all 1100 cities of Russia using the integral index of the intensity of human impact on the environment, which includes pollution of the atmosphere and water sources, the amount of solid wastes, and the level of thermal and radiation pollution. This article proposes an approach for the integral assessment of the ecological situation in Russian urban areas, which takes into account both the level of anthropogenic pollution in a settlement itself and pollution in the existing settlement system. The development of such a method is an important research problem, since the main socioecological effects of transformation of the territorial economic structure can be assessed by the quantity of the population living under different degrees of pollution. Russian cities and towns were classified by the ratio of the internal pollution potential and potential induced by other cities and towns. This calculated as the potential surfaces of the human impact. In nearly half of Russia’s cities and towns, the ecological situation is the result of internal human impact. One-third of Russian cities and towns are characterized by an equal contribution of intraurban outdated funds and external sources. Every fifth Russian city/town provides its environmental resources for settlement and recreation, being under the influence of agglomeration centers. The proposed measures to improve the ecological situation in different types of cities and regions take into account the structural peculiarities of the integral index, as well as the ratio of the intrinsic and external components of the potential surfaces of human impact.