Abstract. One of the tools for management of balanced development of rural areas is spatial planning -a kind of activity regarding to organization of use and protection of land at the national, regional and local level. The issues of conservation and restoration of natural resources in rural areas are extremely relevant for Ukraine. Main environmental problems in rural areas are -degradation of agricultural land, loss of biodiversity and pollution of land, overground and underground water. In recent years a new environmental problem has emerged − desertification. The aim of the article is to investigate the possibilities of land use planning at regional and local level in order to improve the ecological situation in rural areas of Ukraine. To achieve the goal, scientific approaches and methods are used -system approach, system-analytical method, method of correlationregression analysis, abstract-logical method, etc. Investigating the existing system of territorial planning of Ukraine, there is determined discrepancy between the tasks of urban planning and land management in the sphere of solving environmental issues of land use. Also a negative trend in land conservation measures is noticed there, while the land degradation in the form of soil erosion is significant and widely distributed in the country. To solve the environmental problems of land use, it is proposed to introduce landscape planning as an important part of integrated management of land use in rural areas. There are described the stages of implementation of landscape planning. It is proposed to develop a landscape program and a framework landscape plan at the regional level, and a landscape plan at the local level. In general, landscape planning should be interlinked with spatial planning as a basis for solving issues of conservation and restoration of natural landscapes, formation of cultural landscapes and management of landscapes.

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The research studies the issue of ecological stability of rural territories that is the most important component of the national environmental policy of Ukraine. A special attention is paid to degradation of arable lands as the main ecological problem of land management. On the example of Lviv region, the authors calculated the index of ecological nonconformity of current use of arable lands, proving a considerable excess of permissible ploughing of lands in the region. The carried analysis confirms that no measures were performed concerning land protection, including conservation that in the recent years. In this context it is necessary to improve land resources management on the basis of sustainable development. Integration is considered to be the main principle of land resources management. The research proves that solution of ecological problems of land management requires achievement of a set of coordinated targets concerning development of rural territories, land resources management and national environmental policy based on the principles of suitable development. The targets include: planning of land use outside settled areas on the landscape and ecological basis; land inventory; formation of the land bank of agricultural lands; development and support of alternative kinds of activity on rural area; development of an efficient mechanism to encourage performance of land protection measures; improvement of environmental responsibility of population and development of ecological education. The methodological basis of the research is the concept of sustainable development, which expects support for a continuous character of development in order to meet the current needs along with ensuring the needs of future generations. The fulfilment of the task requires examination of scientific works on the issue of sustainable management of land resources and an ecological component of rural territory development.

Transformation of land cover is one of the global ecological problems. It causes fall of land resources productivity and loss of biodiversity of the territory. Important tasks of the ecological policy of Ukraine and Latvia include cease of the processes of land degradation and support for rational land use. However, in these countries differentiation of land cover degradation is not sufficiently studied. Particularly, in Ukraine great attention is paid to degradation of the land cover of agricultural land, while in Latvia there are no approved criteria for classification of land degradation processes. Thus, the goal of the research is to improve the methodical approaches to determination of the degradation factor of such types of land cover as water, agricultural land and forests. Differentiation of the factors of degradation of the studied types of land cover is made according to the following criteria, particularly for agricultural land -by linear erosion and growing of scrubs; for forests -by drying and deforestation; for water -by overgrowing and drying. To achieve the set goal the authors of the research used expert, cartographic, abstract and logical methods. Results of the research are of practical importance both for Ukrainian and for Latvian institutions of environmental protection and management of land use. Application of the presented approach will provide information support and determine measures concerning reclamation of land cover by means of planning of sustainable development of territories at local level.

Introduction. One applies a significant area of land with degraded and low-yielding soils for intensive agricultural use in Ukraine. It is economically impractical and environmentally unsafe. One of the tasks of sustainable development of the nation is to achieve a neutral state of land cover to stop the processes of land degradation and boost their productivity restoration. This fact requires the development of scientific and methodological approaches to the multifunctional land use to achieve a balance between the economy, society, and the biosphere. The purpose. The aim of the study is to develop methodological and practical recommendations for organizing the use of degraded and low-yielding agricultural lands, considering the conceptual goals of landscape planning. Results. Concerning the authors’ views, the efficient use of degraded and low-yielding agricultural land involves the formation of a system of land use that provides restoration, preservation, and maintenance of the natural capital of territories and corresponding ecosystem functions and services. In this context, one has discussed the expediency of landscape planning at the local level, as an essential tool for the sustainable management of land resources. One has proposed to make integrated decisions concerning the analysis of social and economic as well as landscape and ecological conditions of territories, defining nature protection objectives for the optimization of land use and landscapes, which are based on the assessment of sensitivity to existing and planned activities. Considering the analysis and assessment of landscape and ecological conditions, one has recommended carrying out land zoning, identifying types and subtypes of land use, and determining regulations for the use of areas with degraded and low-yielding soils. An important prerequisite for such an approach is public discussions with the involvement of experts in the field of nature use and protection. Conclusions. Landscape planning is of vital importance to solve the problems of the use of degraded and low-yielding agricultural lands, as it shifts from prevailing industry and functional approaches to ecosystems approach concerning making landscape management decisions on a sustainable development basis. Keywords: land use, degraded and low-yielding soils, landscape planning, land zoning, natural capital.