ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF FUNCTIONING OF PROTECTIVE FOREST LANDS IN THE CONDITIONS OF FOREST STEPPE OF THE RIGHT BANK

Abstract

The positive agroecological impact of field-protective forest plantations on the state of agricultural land is noted, which is manifested in the cessation of the development of water and wind erosion, the accumulation of moisture in the soil, the creation of a favorable microclimate in crops, an increase in the general biodiversity, which leads to an increase in the yield of field cult by 20%, the productivity of pastures - up to 25%, dairy production - up to 12%. However, in recent years, the functional properties of field-protective afforestation have sharply decreased due to an unbalanced ratio of arable land, natural hayfields and pastures, forests with a significant predominance of arable land; strengthening of the negative impact on agricultural landscapes and their biological component, in particular climate change in the direction of aridity, aridization, technogenic load, and the like; deterioration of the silvicultural state of field-protective forest plantations of a linear type, a decrease in their areas, a decrease in protective and reclamation functions, a violation of their optimal age and species structure; the inconsistency of the structures of field-protective forest plantations with certain types of agricultural landscapes, reduces their ameliorative impact on agricultural land; the absence of completed systems of protective forest plantations of the linear type; application of simplified technologies in agriculture, weakening the ameliorative influence of protective forest plantations of a linear type on agricultural land; decrease in the volume of creation of agroforestry plantations over the past decades; lack of targeted systemic government measures for protective forest plantations of the linear type; insufficient total area of various categories of protective forest plantations of the linear type; reduction of the area of protective forest plantations of the linear type due to illegal economic activities; liquidation of agroforestry services; a significant decrease in the amount of funding for scientific research on agroforestry; lack of legal norms that provide for liability for inefficient land use. Analysis of the current degree of completeness and completeness of systems of field-protective forest plantations and the need for their optimization showed that field-protective forest cover in Ukraine is only 1.5% of the total land use area, in particular, in the Steppe zone - 2.2%, in the Forest-steppe - 1.0 and in Polesie - 0.4%. The area of forest shelter belts for various purposes, as well as forests, which, in turn, perform protective functions, is insufficient to stabilize the environment and create conditions for normal management. The total and field-protective forest cover of agricultural land in Ukraine is significantly lower than the established standards, which are about 3%. At this time, the situation with field-protective plantations is as follows: lands under field-protective forest belts no longer belong to the lands of the forest fund, but have become agricultural lands with the status of non-agricultural lands; lands under forest shelter belts are in communal ownership; lands for forest shelterbelts are transferred for permanent use and lease; permanent use of land for field protection plantations is transferred exclusively to specialized enterprises of communal and state forms of ownership; any natural or legal person can get a lease of field-protective forest belts, provided that the lease agreement includes the obligation to maintain and preserve such belts and ensure that they perform the functions of agroforestry reclamation; the rules for the maintenance of shelterbelts must be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.