Land Cover/Biodiversity Change and People Well-Being in Russia

Abstract

The results of land use/cover and biodiversity change and people well-being study in Russia are presented. Agriculture is one of the major driver of land cover and biodiversity change. The main agricultural territory belongs to the steppe zone, where more than 40 % of agricultural production is produced on fertile soils and the major part of the rural population is concentrated. Agriculture restructuring started in country from 1991–1993 have put severe strains on the agricultural production and creates dramatic threats to biodiversity because of plowing mostly of all tillable lands, abandonment or transformation part of them to grazing lands, accelerating of soil erosion, overgrazing and pasture degradation, landscape fragmentation by the fields and infrastructure. Between the global factors that shape the land cover and biodiversity in Russia, climate is the most important one. Climate change scenarios on the base show significant increase of temperature and moderate increase of moistening, that will influence the agriculture production. A complex present-day landscape methodology is used to study land cover and biodiversity changes under agricultural impact in Russia. Due to the ongoing agriculture restructuring reforms in Russia local communities have to manage an outdated and inefficient economic and social infrastructure that previously was maintained by federal budget money and the living standards of people are still lower than in the most developed countries. The ecologically sound land use practice and biodiversity conservation should help to reconcile social needs with the requirements of the environment and to avoid the unfavorable consequences of land degradation.