Environmental Impact of Agriculture on Regions in Russia and Kazakhstan

Abstract

In the course of agricultural activity, agrolandscapes and a certain type of anthropogenic loading are formed. Special methodological approaches of integrally analyzing the ecological consequences of agricultural development, component by component, in the regions of Russia and Kazakhstan are necessary to consider these aspects. Those countries have large areas, contrasting landscapes and a large number of territories where the agricultural impact is a significant factor for the state of the environment. The agricultural impact on the environment in the regions of Russia and Kazakhstan is defined, first of all, by the agrarian specialization and intensity of agricultural production, though the regions of Kazakhstan are more polarized since most of them have been developed extensively. The territorial structure of agrarian land changed considerably between 1990 and 2016, and the role of the southern regions of both countries was amplified. With increasing intensity of agricultural production, the degree of dependence of agricultural impact on the dynamics of production due to its localization decreases.KeywordsAgricultureAgricultural impactOverall indexEnvironmental stressAgrarian landscapeEcologyAgricultural index