Transition to a green economy is one of key directions of Russian modernisation. According to the "eastern vector" of the Russian economy, principles of a green development are crucial for regions of Eastern Siberia, one of which is the Baikal area. Actual directions of economic activities are a mining industry on a base of polymetallic ore fields, and a touristic industry in a frame of Special Economic Zone "Baikal haven". Economic growth is a necessary condition for improvement of living standards of the local population, but environmental and economic indicators of these development directions differ considerably. Transition from traditional economic indicators, oriented on consumption, to effective development, focused on preserving of ecological services of natural landscapes, is one of the most important issues of green economy in a practice. This article considers perspective directions of economic development within the Republic of Buryatia as a part of the Baikal Natural Area, and evaluates possibilities of transition to a green economy.

Abstract. The development of integrated indicators that take into account economic, environmental and social criteria remains one of the most relevant aspects of evaluating the sustainability of development. Inequality of development leads eventually to lower rates of economic growth and requires a detailed analysis of socio-environmental criteria in their interconnection with economic growth. The coefficient of decoupling is one of the development indicators which reflects economic and environmental aspects of regional development and is widely used today in Russian and foreign practices. The possibility of using this approach is analyzed by the example of one of the most developed regions of Russia -Republic of Tatarstan. The analysis of statistical data on economic development in the number of Middle Volga regions and its influence on the environment allows concluding that the effect of decoupling is typical for all studied regions. At the same time, the differentiation of the coefficient values of decoupling by the administrative districts of Tatarstan has shown the need for further research. The choice of indicators (such as gross regional product, volume of emissions into atmosphere, discharges into water bodies, etc.) for calculating the decoupling coefficient, which reflect the degree of anthropogenic load on natural environment, must be adjusted in accordance to the type of regional nature use. Working out the methodological approaches to solution of this problem will facilitate a more correct evaluation of the decoupling effect, taking into account environmental, economic and social aspects of development to adjust the goals of sustainable development at the regional level.

The massive abandonment of arable land in Russia in the 1990s had a heavy impact on the country’s land-use structure. The cessation of cultivation leads to a decrease of provisioning ecosystem services within the landscape, while creating an opportunity to enhance the supply of diverse regulation services. Consideration of this opportunity is increasingly important for environmental management and landscape planning. In this article, we present an approach for assessing the environmental benefits of ecosystems developing on abandoned arable lands in the forested zone of European Russia. The proposed methodology is established on a land-cover based framework – ecosystem services assessment matrix. For assessment purposes, abandoned arable lands at different stages of vegetation recovery succession (ruderal, grassland and small-leaved forest) are considered as different land-cover types. Four classes of regulating ecosystem services are subject to qualitative analysis: regulation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere, control of erosion rates, regulation of soil quality and pollination. An exemplary application of the proposed methodology for the case study area located in the Moscow Region of Russia is presented in the article. The results of the qualitative assessment revealed an association between the stage of vegetation recovery succession which corresponds with the time since land abandonment and the supply of regulating ecosystem services. The recovery of natural vegetation leads to higher levels of carbon sequestration, more effective erosion mitigation, soil recovery and increased pollinator abundance. Cropland was proven to be a recipient of the services provided by natural ecosystems. Thus, the return of all uncultivated fields to agricultural use will cause a substantial decrease in the ecological value of the study area.

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Elaboration of integrated development indicators, that take into account economic, environmental and social criteria, is one of the topical issues in the theory and practice of the development sustainability's assessment. The decoupling coefficient, which is widely used in complex sustainability's studies, is one of the indicators, reflecting the dynamics of both economic and environmental parameters. In this paper we investigate the possibility to use the decoupling coefficient to assess trends of regional development on example of one of the most developed regions of Russia-the Republic of Tatarstan. Differentiation of decoupling coefficient values by administrative territorial units of Tatarstan shows the need for further research to substantiate the choice of indicators, reflecting the level of human activities' pressure on the environment, depending on type of environmental management.