The value of protected man-made parks of the Ukrainian Polissya of the second half of the 18th and early 20th centuries

Abstract

For thousands of years, human activity has shaped the environment, changing it in accordance with utilitarian and functional requirements. As these requirements changed over time, so did the value that people associated with certain landscape features. Man-made parks created in the Ukrainian Polissya in the second half of the 17th – early 20th century are landscapes, the historical park environment, and modern adaptation of which to the modern functional purpose are valued by modern society and can be considered as ecosystem services of the park. The purpose of the study was to develop and test a methodology for assessing the values of man-made protected parks in the Ukrainian Polissya. The following research methods were used: field surveys (route), analytical, comparative and historic and systematic. To assess the level of ecosystem services provided by 32 parks located on the territory of the Ukrainian Polissya, a methodology was developed and tested that included 19 assessment categories, each of which contained several attributes (1-20). Assessment categories included utilitarian, environmental, educational, etc. Attributes were presented, but were not limited to the presence of a source and/or the presence of medicinal plants (within the utilitarian category), the presence of plantings that perform the functions of river protection and/or soil stabilisation (within the ecological category), and the presence of an educational path (in the educational category). Each attribute was assigned a score of 1 with a sum of values (up to a potential sum of 97), reflecting the level of ecosystem services provided by each individual park. By estimating the sum of values, parks were classified as high-value (sum of values from 70 to 97), medium-value (sum of values from 40 to 69), and low-value (sum of values below 40). Among the 32 parks surveyed, 31 (96.9%) parks were classified as medium-value (most with a sum of values in the range from 50 to 60), and one (3.1%) park was classified as low-value, while no park was classified as high-value. By identifying which of the 19 assessment categories (and attributes) are missing, it is possible to plan and implement improvements to increase the ecosystem services provided by individual parks. This methodology can be used to evaluate ecosystem services provided by man-made parks in Ukraine and around the world. Such an assessment would help preserving existing parks, saving them from destruction and development, thus preventing their transition to other types of land use. It would also increase the value of these unique multi-purpose landscape features in the future by transforming and expanding their cultural and social ecosystem services