The Fifth International Conference on Eurasian scientific development 1st June, 2015 «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Vienna, Austria Vienna 2015 «The Fifth International Conference on Eurasian scientific development». Proceedings of the Conference (June 1, 2015). «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH. Vienna. 2015. 216 P. ISBN–13 978-3-903063-45-7 ISBN–10 3-903063-45-2 The recommended citation for this publication is: Ilyna J. (Ed.) (2015). The Fifth International Conference on Eurasian scientific development. Proceedings of the Conference (June 1, 2015). Vienna, OR: «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Vienna. Editor Jana Ilyna, Russia Editorial board Egor Rachynski, Ukraine Alajos Fazekas, Hungary Rostislav Komarov, Russia Dragan Novak, Croatia Slavka Konstantinova, Bulgaria Proofreading Andrey Simakov Cover design Andreas Vogel Contacts “East West” Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Am Gestade 1 1010 Vienna, Austria Email: [email protected] Homepage: www.ew-a.org Material disclaimer The opinions expressed in the conference proceedings do not necessarily reflect those of the “East West” Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, the editor, the editorial board, or the organization to which the authors are affiliated. © «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Publisher. Typeset in Berling by Ziegler Buchdruckerei, Linz, Austria. Printed by «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Vienna, Austria on acid-free paper. Geography 3 Section 1. Geography Pidkova Oksana Mykolaivna, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University E‑mail: [email protected] PROBLEMS OF DEGRADED AND UNPRODUCTIVE LANDS CONSERVATION Degraded and unproductive lands are not always considered as a separate, independent forma- tion, and are combined into a single concept. However, the concept of “degraded” and “unproductive” lands which have certain common characteristics regarding productive capacity, should be considered separately. According to Article 171 of the Land Code of Ukraine 1 degraded lands include ground areas whose surface is broken by the earthquakes, landslides, karst, floods, mining etc., eroded lands, wetlands, ground areas with high acidity or salinity, and with soil contaminated by chemicals and others. Unproductive lands include farmlands, soils of which are characterized by negative natural proper- ties, low fertility, and their intended use is economically inefficient. The meaning of “unproductive” lands (“marginal” soils) is mostly wider than “degraded”: the latter, referring to their productive capacity, are absorbed by the first ones. “Degradation” of soils is caused mainly by anthropogenic factors, and “law fertility” is associated with natural properties as well as with anthropogenic influence. Degraded and unproductive lands, commercial use of which is environmentally dangerous and economically inefficient and technologically contaminated lands, where it is impossible to get environ- mentally friendly products and dangerous for peoplet stay are subject to conservation 1. The definition of land conservation is enshrined in law, particularly in the Land Code of Ukraine, Law of Ukraine “On Land Protection” and others. The Law of Ukraine “On state program of forming of national ecological network of Ukraine for 2000–2015” says that land conservation is exclusion of lands from economic circulation (agricultural or industrial) for a specified period for the implementation of measures to restore fertility and environ- mentally satisfactory conditions of soils, and to maintain or return (restore) the lost ecological balance in a particular region 2. The aim of conservation is to improve the environmental situation in the agricultural lands by in- creasing the area of natural grasslands and forest plantations. This can be achieved only if unproductive 1 Земельний Кодекс України : чинне законодавство зі змінами та допов. станом на 15 верес. 2009 р.: (відповідає офіц. тексту). – К. : ПАЛИВОДА А. В., 2009. – 104 с. 2 Закон України “Про загальнодержавну програму формування національної екологічної мережі України на 2000–2015 р.”//Відомості Верховної Ради України. – 2000. – N 47. – С. 405. 4 Section 1. and degraded lands are excluded from agricultural use. The main objective of land conservation is soil protection and preservation of land resources, the most valuable national wealth of Ukraine. Land conservation is made by suspension of their economic use for a certain period of time and their grassing or forestation according to the decisions of executive authorities and local governments based on agreements with the land owners. To specify the rules of the Land Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On Land Protection” 1 concerning land conservation by Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, basing on the Order № 175 of the State Committee of Ukraine for Land Resources “On the procedure for land conservation” dated October 17, 2002 the Order № 283 was issued on April 26, 2013 which establishes the “Procedure for land conservation” 2. This “Procedure …” is obligatory for state authorities and is intended to be used by land owners, land users, including tenants, and is of a recommendatory nature for local governments. The Order № 283 refers to the organizational basis of land conservation. Methodological principles that cover cartography technique of degraded and unproductive soils on different scale (region, district, village councils, ground area), ratios of assessment of their degradation and the individual criteria of different degrees, peculiarities of the assessment of lands in different regions (Polissia, forest-steppe, mountain countries, etc.) are not considered. Moreover there are no clear recommendations regarding the sources of funding of land conserva- tion in the “Procedure …” and no state bodies responsible for its implementation are named. Undoubt- edly, substantial subsidies from the state budget are required for implementation of it as landowners and land users are currently unable to finance it. Besides, soil scientists and experts on ecology of land use are to be joined to this work to perform it on a high quality level and to improve the environmental situation within degraded lands. Considering conservation as a set of measures, in order to ensure the maximum preservation of the soil, it should be first introduced at the territories that require environmental stabilization of land use because of the pre-crisis (or crisis) state of soils. Agricultural lands are considered degraded, unproductive lands taking into account the main indica- tors which characterize the soil properties and determin the need of land conservation 2. It is also to be remembered that low fertility and economic inefficiency of intended use can be not only a consequence of the poor state of land, but also can be caused by inefficient farming practices, use of outdated technol- ogy or growing crops that are unsuitable for this type of soil or natural climate zone. Taking into account the properties of soils that prevent their use as a part of arable land, in terms of natural and agricultural areas and provinces as well as administrative areas agro-production groups of soils that are subject to conservation are selected, and their territory is estimated indicating the factors that cause low productivity — erodibility, easy grain size, salinity, etc 3. The crisis of agricultural production is the result of a number of other mistakes made during the agrarian reform. In Ukraine there are such economic relations, which led to the situation when the main task of the agrarian reform — to create an effective host-owner — is not solved, because the development of farming is a complex and lengthy process and requires support from the state, and is a challenge not only of socially-economic but also of ecological nature 4. 1 Закон України “Про охорону земель” № 962-IV від 19.06.2003 р.//Відомості Верховної ради України. – 2003. – № 39. – С. 349. 2 Порядок консервації земель. Наказ Міністерства аграрної політики та продовольства України № 283 від 26.04.2013 р. [Електронний ресурс]. – Режим доступу: http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z0810–13. 3 Новаківський Л. Я. Консервація деградованих і непродуктивних земель/Новаківський Л. Я., Канаш О. П., Лековець В. О.//Вісник аграр. науки. – 2000.– № 11. – С. 54–59. 4 Кіт М. Концепція консервації земель на прикладі Львівської області/М. Кіт, Г. Бойко, Н. Єфічук та ін.// Вісник Львівського університету. Серія географічна. – 2010. – Вип. 38. – С. 127–137. Geography 5 Solving this problem requires the development of land ownership and land use systems, which provide a professional level of a land user, adequate organization of territory and standards of natural resources use and production activities that would ensure the prevention of land degradation, exclusion of unproductive and degraded lands from agricultural use by means of their conservation. Therefore land conservation should be considered in three aspects: environmental, economic and social and legal. The first two aspects are closely intertwined and