Land degradation is one of the most pressing problems ensuring sustainable use of land. In order to provide a clear understanding of land degradation and its risks, as well as to implement unified measures for prevention of land degradation in Latvia, the Land Management Law came into force in 2015. It individually defines the concepts of land and soil degradation, thus separating them from each other, as well as clarifying the term “degraded territory”. However, despite these solutions in the regulatory framework of the land degradation, till now criteria for identifying land degradation have not been developed and approved, therefore their determination is very subjective and not comparable between municipalities and at the state level. The aim of the article is to develop and approbation degradation criteria for assessing land degradation in particular territory. In the article, based on the author's previous studies on the classification of land degradation, characterised one type of land degradation - the abandoned agricultural and forestry activity territory, as well as proposed subdivision of criteria classification into three levels – low, medium and high. As result of the study, it was concluded that the classification of degraded territories into three degradation levels is justified for the purpose of more objective identification and evaluation of land degradation.

Abstract. Land is a non-renewable resource with limited availability and, therefore, a very important issue is the preservation of useful properties of land and comprehensive and sustainable land use. The process of land and soil degradation (decline of properties) leading to the formation of degraded land have been observed due to the influence of various economic activities and environmental conditions. The Land Management Law has already specified that degraded land is an area of destroyed or damaged land surface or abandoned territory of building sites, mineral extraction, economic or military activity. The expert opinion on degraded land is that it could be a polluted area, abandoned building sites, old greenhouse territories, Soviet-period farms and workshops, as well as non-recultivated mineral deposit sites and dumping grounds. The research concluded that currently it is useful to distinguish three types of degraded land: abandoned building sites, an abandoned mineral extraction area and an abandoned agricultural and forestry activity area. The Analytic Hierarchy Process developed by American mathematician T.L.Saaty was applied for choosing criteria for each type of degraded land to identify the views of experts on the mutual influence of land degradation determination criteria. The results of the expert evaluations showed that the most important criteria for the determination of abandoned building sites and agricultural and forestry activities were "dump-site" and "abandoned military territory or object".

Sustainable development of the national economy is based on the reasonable use of natural resources. Increase area of uncultivated agriculture land is one of the risk factors of land degradation in Latvia. Land degradation prevention measures, including restriction of invasive plant species, are carried out to fulfill overall interests of the society. In conditions of globalization, previously unknown plants purposely or accidentally propagate into Latvian environment, and their proportion is increasing. Many of these species are growing, multiplying and spreading rapidly in our climate, displacing native species, causing significant biological pollution and becoming dominant. Such aggressive species are called invasive. They have become a serious problem in natural ecosystems, creating problems for the protection of native plant species, preserving the visual value of traditional landscapes, and causing significant economic damage to the economy. The aim of research is to analyse indicators characterizing abandoned economic activity territory-spread of invasive plants, their limitation and elimination. Restoring brownfields can improve land use and quality of landscape.

The aim of the article is to analyse and evaluate the information on polluted and potentially polluted places registered in the Register of polluted and potentially polluted places in Latvia. Under the influence of various natural conditions and economic activities land and soil degradation processes are observed, which has led to formation of degraded territories. Degraded territory is a territory with destroyed or damaged upper layer of ground or an abandoned territory of construction, extraction of mineral resources, economic or military activities, which in result of economic or other activity or inaction has so far destroyed, that is impossible to use it properly without special restoration measures. One of the factors that can be used to assess land degradation and determine the type of land degradation is pollution. In accordance with the Law "On pollution" in Latvia have been established procedures for identification of polluted places and developed criteria which are used for assessment of risk level. On this basis the Centre for Environment, Geology and Meteorology of Latvia has established and maintains the Register of polluted and potentially polluted places. The polluted place is soil, subsoil, water, sludge, as well as buildings, factories or other objects containing pollutants. Potentially polluted places can be listed according to unverified information. In 2017 in Latvia 351 polluted and 2648 potentially polluted places were listed and registered. The largest concentration of polluted places is located in Riga, which is largest industrial centre in Latvia.

The purpose of the article is to evaluate role of land use planning project (hereinafter - LUPP) specified in the legislation of Latvia in sustainable development of territory. In Land Use Planning Law adopted in 2006, LUPP is project for arrangement of territory and measures of improvement of land use conditions, for part of an administrative territory of local government, separate immovable property or land parcel, which is developed for exchange of land parcels or elimination of inter-areas, for reorganisation of land parcel boundaries, as well as for subdivision of land parcels. In Latvia for sustainable development of the territory, legislative acts of spatial development planning system have been adopted at several levels, from which for detailed arrangement of territory detailed plan should be developed. The detailed plan often includes reorganisation of land parcel boundaries, but legislation determines that detailed plan should be developed in territories specified in spatial plan, mainly before commencing new construction. The LUPP is not planning instrument for territory development and may be developed in territories in which regulatory framework do not provide development of detailed plan. However, in local governments it is relatively common that for areas intended, for example, for individual building, for subdivision of land parcels, LUPP rather than detailed plan has been choosen to develop. In order to clarify these concerns, the study carried out survey of specialists of local governments and the article summarises analysis of results about development of LUPP in relevant local governments, as well as, on the basis of relevant regulatory enactments, compared the objectives and conditions for development of LUPP and detailed plan.