Oleg Anatolyevich Makarov

A detailed review of existing methods of economic assessment of soils in Russia is carried out. It is shown that the
foundations of such an assessment were laid and voiced by V.V. Dokuchaev — in public lectures at meetings of the
Imperial Free Economic Society. Of the domestic soil assessment systems, the most perfect and holistic is the one
created by a group of employees of the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute under the leadership of I.I. Karmanov. The main elements of this system are the soil-ecological index (a bonus score refl ecting the level of soil fertility taking into account specifi c climatic conditions and terrain) and the tariff category of the soil type of the assessed site. Modern methods of assessment, including monetization of ecosystem services of soils in determining the amount of damage from land degradation and assessing the value of soils based on the concepts of «zero soil», are analyzed. It is shown that the most promising approaches to the economic assessment of soils are — the assessment of the cost of individual soil properties, the cost of soil modifi ers used to improve soil quality, the cost of soils, soils and soil mixtures used for the purposes of reclamation, landscaping and landscaping, the assessment of the cost of ecosystem services of soils for lands of various economic use. Examples of approbation of some methods of economic assessment of soils for the territory of the Educational and Experimental Soil-ecological Center of Lomonosov Moscow State University «Chashnikovo» are considered.

Th e damage caused by soil and land degradation was assessed at three hierarchical levels (the region as a whole, the municipality, the agricultural sector) of the spatial organization of six test regions of the Russian Federation (Volgograd, Belgorod, Kaliningrad, Vladimir, Samara and Penza regions). Th e indicators of soil and land degradation for all test objects
were a decrease in the content of exchangeable potassium, a decrease in the content of mobile phosphorus, a decrease
in the content of humus, a change in the acidity index of soils. In addition, for the test objects of the Volgograd region, the indicator of land salinization was used, the Belgorod region — soil erosion, the Kaliningrad region — the indicator of the metabolic coeffi cient (qCO2) of soils. It was found that the minimum and maximum values of the specific total damage fr om degradation can be detected for regions with a similar composition of soil cover (Saratov and Belgorod regions, respectively, wh ere chernozem soils predominate). When the values of specifi c total damage from soil and land degradation are close to each other at various hierarchical levels of spatial organization of regions (Vladimir, Saratov, Belgorod and partly Penza regions), in terms of intensity and scale of manifestation of the studied degradation processes, the agricultural farm is «typical» for the entire municipal district, and the municipal district is «typical» for the entire region.

On the basis of testing various varieties of ecological and economic assessment of lands on the territory of the Russian
Plain, their systematization was carried out both fr om the standpoint of the ratio of profi t and loss associated with
nature management, and the attribution of these varieties to the areas of economic science that diff erently determine
the role of human economic activity in ecological systems.
The predominance in the Russian Federation of those techniques and methods of ecological and economic assessment,
which are associated with the defi nition of damage/ harm from pollution, degradation and cluttering of land plots, is shown. Th e results of the approbation of the «Methodology for determining the extent of damage from
soil and land degradation» (1994) for agricultural farms located in various regions of the Russian Federation — in the Volgograd, Belgorod, Kaliningrad and Penza regions are presented. It has been established that the damage caused to agricultural lands in all the studied regions is due to the low level of agrotechnical measures carried out
here — mainly insuffi cient application of organic and mineral fertilizers, liming of acidic soils (for example, in the
Kaliningrad region) and gypsum of saline soils (in the Volgograd region).
Methods wh ere the comparison of income and losses is carried out (methodology Y. von Braun, adjusting the value
of land based on information about their ecological condition), are the most diffi cult to implement, but the most promising from a practical point of view. The results of the adjustment of the cadastral value of the lands of the Western Administrative District of Moscow based on the calculation of the indicator of loss of ecological quality of soils are presented. In some cases, the decrease in the cadastral value of land plots was 71% compared to the initial value. It has been established that the assessment of environmental damage refers to the direction of «environmental economics», the assessment of ecosystem services of soils and lands, the adjustment of the value of land based on
information about their ecological condition, the assessment of environmental tax/environmental payments, — to
the direction of «ecological economics», the methodology of J. von Braun and the assessment of environmental risks
of pollution, degradation and littering of land — towards the direction of «green economics».

The Department of Erosion and Soil Protection has developed the main scientific directions – «Assessment of ero- sion processes in soils of various bioclimatic zones», «Study of the basics of sustainable land use» and «Ecological and economic assessment of soil and land degradation». It is proposed to develop both existing areas of scientific research with a certain adjustment of their names and problems («Analysis and modeling of erosion processes in soils, including in the context of climate change», «Development of the concept of sustainable land use in the context of food security», «Ecology, economics and socio-demographic features of land use in the context of climate change and soil degradation»), as well as new directions that have some research history at the department — «Development of principles of soil protection», «Development of methodological foundations of land reclamation». The necessity of creating a holistic concept of soil protection is considered in particular detail. This concept should include both the formulation of legal (legislative and regulatory-methodological) principles of soil protection, and the definition of criteria for assessing soils under which their protection can be carried out, and the development of soil protection systems (first of all, from the manifestation of erosion processes) in various bioclimatic and administrative-territorial conditions.