The quantitative and qualitative depletion of water resources (both surface and groundwater) is closely related to the need to protect soils against degradation, rationalization of land use, and regulation of surface water runoff within the watershed area. Belgorod Oblast (27,100 km2), one of the administrative regions of European Russia, was chosen as the study area. It is characterized by a high activity of soil erosion (the share of eroded soils is about 48% of the total area of arable land). The development phase of the River Basin Environmental Management Projects (217 river basins from the fourth to seventh order) allowed for the proceeding of the development of an integrated monitoring system for river systems and river basin systems. The methods used to establish a geoecological network for regional monitoring include the selection and application of GIS techniques to quantify the main indicators of ecological state and predisposition of river basins to soil erosion (the share of cropland and forestland, the share of the south-oriented slopes, soil erodibility, Slope Length and Steepness (LS) factor, erosion index of precipitation, and the river network density) and the method of a hierarchical classification of cluster analysis for the grouping of river basins. An approach considering the typology of river basins is also used to expand the regional network of hydrological gauging stations to rationalize the national hydrological monitoring network. By establishing 16 additional gauging stations on rivers from the fourth to seventh order, this approach allows for an increase in the area of hydro-agroecological monitoring by 1.26 times (i.e., up to 77.5% of the total area of Belgorod Oblast). Some integrated indicators of agroecological (on the watershed surface) and hydroecological (in river water flow) monitoring are proposed to improve basin environmental management projects. Six-year monitoring showed the effectiveness of water quality control measures on an example of a decrease in the concentrations of five major pollutants in river waters.

Among the reasons for soil degradation, runoff-induced erosion causes the greatest damage to agriculture in European Russia. One of the effective tools for regulating soil erosion is changing the structure of sown areas and the composition of crops with a focus on soil conservation and rehabilitation land use. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the impact of the program on river-basin nature management and the adaptive landscape agriculture system (ALAS) on changes in soil losses due to storm erosion in one of the agriculturally most developed and, at the same time, most eroded administrative regions of European Russia—Belgorod Oblast. In this study, the calculation of potential soil washout was carried out for three cropland models: (1) The maximum erosion potential of the territory, expressed in terms of soil washout from bare (clean) fallow areas; (2) soil washout, considering the actual structure of sown areas over the past 10 years; and (3) soil washout, considering the full implementation of projects for the erosion-control organization of cropland within the framework of ALAS. The calculation of erosion-induced soil losses was carried out according to the USLE model adapted to regional environmental conditions, while the C-factor values were set separately for each model. For model 1, the average soil loss is 11.3 t/ha per year; for model 2, it is 3.5 t/ha per year; and for model 3, it is 2.2 t/ha per year. It was found that the current programs for the biologization of agriculture and the contour-reclamation organization of cropland would have a noticeable erosion-control effect. It is noteworthy that the greatest efficiency was modeled for areas with unfavorable relief conditions, with up to 40% reduction in soil losses as compared to actual ones.

The article is concerned with the current state of digitalisation of the agro-industrial complex (AIC) in the Russian Federation. It lists a number of legal instruments that have been approved by the legislative authorities and establish the digitalisation trends of the agro-industrial complex at the federal and regional levels. It shows GIS technology opportunities in the process of the AIC digitalisation. It deals with the implementation of the Decree of the Russian Federation Government, which has determined the establishment of excellent scientific and educational centres in connection with the implementation of one of such projects in the Belgorod Region. It examines the experience of both project development for the basin-based agricultural landscapes using GIS technologies and the introduction of soil protection agriculture within the entire region in relation to the territory of the Belgorod Region. It shows changes in the available land structure in the Belgorod Region due to the introduction of basin-based nature management projects. It considers the advantages of the basin approach to be used in the course of the AIC digitalisation.

The rural community system in the Central Chernozem Economic Region in Russia is undergoing a radical transformation under the interrelated influence of fundamental factors that have rendered the development of many communities unsustainable. This paper analyses the role of urbanisation processes in population changes and transformation of rural community systems in the region; determines the level of horizontal mobility among the rural population, as well as its impact on settlement evolution; assesses the share of small and extremely small communities in settlement composition; and outlines these communities' future development prospects. The authors believe that the sociodemographic "desertification" of peripheral municipalities can pose challenges to rural development: a shortage of labour resources, changes in population quality, and problems of innovation diffusion. The study recommends improving the comfort of the living environment and accelerating the technical re-equipment and automation of agricultural production.

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