The Economics of Land Degradation in Russia

Abstract

The analysis of the costs for action versus inaction in addressing land degradation at national and sub-national (regional and district) levels in Russia showed that the total annual costs of land degradation due to land use and cover change only are about 189 billion USD in 2009 as compared with 2001, i.e. about 23.6 billion USD annually, or about 2 % of Russia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010. These land use and land cover changes occurred in the area of 130 million ha. The area of arable lands decreased by 25 % during the period of the economic reforms between 1990 and 2009. The total economic value of ecosystem goods and services is estimated to equal about 3700 billion USD in Russia, exceeding the conventional GDP by 3 times. The costs of action against land degradation are lower than the costs of inaction in Russia by 5-6 times over a 30-year horizon. Almost 92 % of the costs of action are made up of the opportunity costs of action. The methodology of the economics of land degradation can be successfully applied in peculiar socioeconomic conditions of Russia, but the lack of harmonization of methods and indicators brings uncertainty to quantitative assessments.

The Forest Complex of Russia Through the Mirror of the May 2018 Presidential Decree: is it Worth Waiting for a Breakthrough?

“…Общим местом при обсуждении состояния лесного комплекса страны в постсоветском периоде является широкий перечень системных проблем, которые не позволяют отрасли занять лидирующее место на мировом рынке, несмотря на самые большие в мире запасы лесного сырья (Антонова, 2017;Гордеев, Пыжев и Зандер, 2017;Гордеев, 2018;Глазырина, Яковлева и Жадина, 2015;Колесникова, 2017;Петров, 2013;Пыжев, 2015;Сидорюк, 2012;Chang and Gaston, 2016;Elbakidze, Andersson and Angelstam, 2013;Glazyrina and Zabelina, 2018;Le, Nkonya and Mirzabaev, 2014;Naumov, Angelstam and Elbakidze, 2016;Newell and Simeone, 2014;Proskurina, Heinimö and Vakkilainen, 2018;Sorokin, Bryzzhev and Strokov, 2016). Аналогичные проблемы рассматриваются и в Стратегии.…”

Automatic Gully Detection: Neural Networks and Computer Vision

“…Gully erosion is one of the most active geomorphic processes and one of the major causes of land degradation worldwide. The role of the process can hardly be underestimated, even with rough estimates, the area occupied by gullies only in Russia is 2.4 million ha [1], which is more than the area of some European countries such as Slovenia or the total area of Montenegro, Luxembourg, Andorra, Malta, and Liechtenstein. In the eastern part of the Russian Plain, gully erosion is particularly intense, forming what is known as the "erosion polis" [2,3].…”

“…In the eastern part of the Russian Plain, gully erosion is particularly intense, forming what is known as the "erosion polis" [2,3]. All this leads to the fact that fertile and heavily used earlier agricultural land is withdrawn from circulation, which in turn generates alternative costs estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars per year [1].…”

Improving Agricultural Land Management As A Tool For Promoting Sustainable Development

“…In another case, land degradation is considered as a consequence of agricultural use focused on the getting a yield of crops in agriculture through the mobilization of soil fertility (Montgomery, 2007;Panagos et al, 2016). Anthropogenic factors also include demographic changes, technological changes, economic and social changes (Mirzabaev et al, 2016), and the socio-economic status of land users (Sklenicka et al, 2020).…”

“…The multiple causes of land degradation are complex and interrelated. Many studies indicate that the deterioration of the quality of the soil is the result of the interaction of various natural factors with anthropogenic factors (Sklenicka et al, 2020;Sorokin et al, 2016). And it largely depends on the quality of environmental policy.…”