Nature management rational and irrational. Depending on the consequences of human economic activity, environmental management is distinguished between rational and irrational.[ ...]
Nature management can be irrational and rational. Irrational nature management does not ensure the preservation of natural resource potential, leads to the impoverishment and deterioration of the quality of the natural environment, is accompanied by pollution and depletion of natural systems, disruption of the ecological balance and destruction of ecosystems. Rational nature management means the complex scientifically based use of natural resources, which achieves the maximum possible conservation of the natural resource potential, with minimal disruption of the ability of ecosystems to self-regulate and self-recovery.[ ...]
Irrational nature management does not ensure the preservation of the natural resource potential, leads to the impoverishment and deterioration of the quality of the natural environment, is accompanied by pollution and depletion of natural systems, disruption of the ecological balance and destruction of ecosystems.[ ...]
Nature management - the use of natural resources in order to meet the material and cultural needs of society. Nature management (as a science) is a field of knowledge that develops the principles of rational (reasonable) nature management. Nature management can be rational and irrational.[ ...]
Nature management can be rational (reasonable) and irrational. With rational environmental management, which ensures economically efficient consumption and reproduction of natural resources, opportunities are created to meet the needs for them not only of the present, but also of future generations of people. Unfortunately, the current state of nature management as a whole can be characterized as irrational, leading to the depletion of natural resources, disruption of the ecological balance and environmental pollution. Nature management should be based on the laws of ecology, the laws of the economy of nature. Violation of environmental requirements leads to the deterioration of the natural environment and necessitates special environmental protection measures.[ ...]
Irrational nature management leads to the depletion (and even disappearance) of natural resources, environmental pollution, disruption of the ecological balance of natural systems, that is, to an ecological crisis or catastrophe.[ ...]
Irrational nature management ultimately leads to an ecological crisis, and environmentally balanced nature management creates the prerequisites for overcoming it.[ ...]
Nature management can be irrational and rational.[ ...]
Irrational nature management has a negative impact on many sectors of the national economy, on the quality of the human environment, on the composition of the animal and plant world. It will take many years, huge financial resources and a clear program of action to improve Russia's difficult environmental situation. For these purposes, Russia is developing a special long-term program "Environmental Security of Russia".[ ...]
Irrational human impacts on nature during nature management are manifested in the results of both deliberately predatory and natural in the form of indirect impacts. But in both cases of impacts on the natural environment, there is an impoverishment of biogeocenoses.[ ...]
USE OF NATURE IS IRRATIONAL - leads to the depletion of natural resources.[ ...]
Irrational use of natural resources - a decrease in the quality and depletion of natural resources, undermining the restorative forces of nature, environmental pollution, a decrease in its healing and aesthetic functions. Examples of P.N. - salinization of soils, mountains of garbage, pollution of the atmosphere and hydrosphere, etc.[ ...]
The reasons for irrational nature management are different. This is insufficient knowledge of the laws of ecology, weak material interest of producers, low ecological culture of the population, etc. In addition, in different countries, issues of nature management and nature protection are solved differently depending on a number of factors: political, economic, social, moral, etc.[ ...]
In the process of nature management, a person can produce rational and irrational impacts.[ ...]
Damage caused by irrational use of natural resources. In environmental management, damage is understood as actual or possible economic and social losses as a result of changes in the natural environment under the influence of human economic activity.[ ...]
As a result of irrational nature management, chemical pollution of air, water and soil, as well as the impact of destructive natural processes in the world, 6 million hectares of land are irretrievably lost every year and out of economic circulation. Another 20 million hectares fall into a state unsuitable for agricultural use and require such costs for reclamation that make it economically unprofitable.[ ...]
The concept of “nature management” is understood as a scientific and technical direction that deals with the development of theoretical problems and practical solutions in the field of rational use of natural resources by a person; this is a very active area of social production activity aimed at meeting the needs of mankind in the quality and diversity of the environment, at improving the use of the natural resources of the biosphere. It stands out, which is quite natural, two types of nature transformation: rational and irrational. The latter leads to the depletion of natural resources, the undermining of the restorative forces of the biosphere - its ability to self-maintain, reduce health and aesthetic qualities, i.e. this is a system of activity that does not ensure the conservation of the natural resource potential of nature.[ ...]
The negative consequences of nature management can be successfully compensated by the adjustment of technological processes, well-thought-out measures for the transformation of nature. The main ways of combining economic tasks with environmental measures are vividly demonstrated in the guiding documents of the 27th CPSU Congress. It is characteristic that the section of the "Guidelines...", devoted to environmental protection, is set out to a large extent in a purely engineering vein: "Wider to introduce low-waste and waste-free technological processes..." (p. 69). This section also provides for improving technological processes, equipment and vehicles, improving the quality of raw materials and fuel, creating forest belts and reclaiming land. However, the other sections of this document contain similar instructions, for example: “Reduce the energy intensity of the national income by at least 1.4 times and the metal intensity by almost 2 times. Comprehensive use of natural and material resources, maximum elimination of losses and irrational expenses. Widely involve secondary resources in economic circulation, as well as by-products ... In order to improve the country's fuel and energy balance ... make wider use of non-traditional renewable energy sources and secondary energy resources ”(p. 14, 15).[ ... ]
The license for integrated nature management in our country is issued by the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia after obtaining special licenses from the bodies of management of water, forest and biological resources, subsoil. The contract for integrated nature management specifies the boundaries, list, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the territories and natural resources provided for use. The agreement provides for the obligations of the nature user to improve the state of the natural environment, pay promptly for the withdrawal of resources and pollution, provide executive authorities and bodies of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia with information on the state of the natural environment and the use of its resources, and compensate for losses incurred as a result of irrational use and pollution. In necessary cases, the operation of the contract may be suspended or even annulled. Licensing of nature management is issued only on condition of a positive conclusion of the ecological expertise of the nature management project. If the user of natural resources does not comply with the norms and rules of use fixed by the contract, then he bears administrative, criminal and other liability in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the regulations of territorial entities. Moreover, bringing to responsibility does not exempt the perpetrators from compensation for the harm they caused.[ ...]
The legislation in the field of nature management defines responsibility for the irrational use of natural resources and degradation of the natural environment. Compensation for damage caused through the fault of the nature user is carried out at its own expense, and in the event of natural disasters - mainly at the expense of the state. The long-standing practice of covering losses from emergencies at the expense of state insurance and reserve funds has exhausted its possibilities due to the state budget deficit. In the conditions of the most severe economic crisis, enterprises do not have real funds to carry out compensatory measures.[ ...]
It is important that effective systems of nature management, including land use and land management, and nature protection can ensure not only the conservation of biodiversity, but also its growth, thus creating the basis for sustainable economic development. The paradox is that the areas with the greatest biodiversity (for example, tropical countries) are often the ones where there is no economic opportunity for conservation programs. In most countries, the greatest biodiversity is found in the marginal areas, the least affected by civilization. In biologically rich and economically poor countries, there are problems of irrational use of natural resources for income generation.[ ...]
The totality of human impacts on nature is increasingly often called nature management, which can be both rational and irrational. More strictly, nature management is understood as the totality of all forms of exploitation of the natural resource potential as part of the natural resources of the Earth and the nearest space, which can be really involved in human economic activity given the technical and socio-economic capabilities of society with the conditions for preserving the human environment.[ ...]
The opinion that existed until recently about the boundlessness of natural resources gave rise to their irrational use, as well as a conciliatory attitude towards the facts of environmental pollution. Conservation issues were considered secondary. To eliminate the conflict between nature and human economic activity, it is necessary to switch to a fundamentally different form of communication between society and nature - a sustainable self-supporting development of society, a rational type of nature management.[ ...]
Some of the lack of clarity in the Law on Local Self-Government has left loopholes for unsustainable use of natural resources. Of course, the old system of pumping natural resources out of the regions and republics by the central departments was no better. But replacing departmentalism with parochialism turns out to be extremely dangerous and also leads to an irretrievable loss of resources. The right to own resources does not yet mean the right to uncontrolled disposal of them: the state, in the interests of the entire population, needs to more clearly regulate nature management, regardless of the form of ownership. Thus, the owner of a forest in France has no right to cut down a tree without the appropriate permission of the authorities. Even in Moscow, car owners cut forest plantations under the windows of houses in courtyards and put up metal garages "shells", and all this happens without supervision, and landfills form around these "shells".[ ...]
The overall level of financial responsibility for violation of environmental, water, land legislation, irrational use of natural resources and environmental pollution in the Russian Federation is much lower than in developed industrial countries. Therefore, the overall indicators of the amount of damages and fines collected in the field of environmental protection do not have a significant impact on the economically significant performance indicators of enterprises, although it should be noted that the distribution of these fines and claims by industry is extremely uneven.[ ...]
A common serious problem of payments for the use of natural resources as an incentive to ensure rational use of natural resources is their low level. In addition, the Law “On the Protection of the Environment” provides for payment for overlimit and irrational use of natural resources as a means of economic incentives for a prudent attitude to the riches of nature, but this measure has not generally been developed in natural resource legislation.[ ...]
In general, in recent years, the state of Russian lands in the sphere of economic activity has been deteriorating. The ongoing irrational nature management, including agricultural, with a significant reduction in measures for the protection and rational use of soils and land resources, further aggravated the process of land degradation.[ ...]
The ecological situation in Russia has been far from favorable for many years. Unjustifiably high emissions of pollution into the environment and irrational use of natural resources, along with the raw material orientation of exports, largely determine the approach of an ecological crisis in a number of regions. Air pollution levels in 86 cities with a total population of about 40 million people often exceed the permissible norms by 10 or more times. Does not meet the established requirements for about /, water samples from Russian reservoirs used for drinking water supply, more than 75% of production wastes have varying degrees of toxicity. Significant areas of land are subject to water and wind erosion, polluted with nitrogen compounds, heavy metals, pathogenic microflora. All this has led to an increase in food contamination at concentrations hazardous to health.[ ...]
And until now, the funds allocated for environmental needs are far behind the needs for them, which leads to the fact that the amount of damage caused to the country's economy by irrational nature management significantly exceeds the costs of its rationalization. If we compare these amounts with the national income of Russia, then the amount of damage will correspond to approximately 20%, and the cost of its prevention - only 2%. To achieve an economic optimum, these amounts should be equal to each other, and to achieve an ecological optimum, when the level of environmental pollution is within the maximum permissible concentrations (MAC), the costs of environmental activities should be such that no damage occurs at all. For developed capitalist countries, such as the USA, Japan, France, this ratio has been improving in recent years, while in most developing countries it is deteriorating.[ ...]
Optimization of mining operations and reclamation of damaged lands. Excessive land degradation in the process of mining is the result of unsustainable nature management. The situation can be changed only by using new approaches to managing the economy, exploiting resources, and introducing the principles of rational nature management. This implies the application of a system of developed measures and principles that help to solve the problem of nature management and environmental protection. The authors of the textbook "Economic and Social Geography of Russia" cite the following groups of these measures and principles: environmental, economic, legal, sanitary-hygienic, demographic, ethnic.[ ...]
Limited climatic resources turn out to be the root cause of the weakening of many soil-biochemical processes, the slowness of self-recovery of the ecological functions that were originally inherent in the soil due to irrational land and nature management. Hence the well-known vulnerability of Siberian ecosystems to anthropogenic disturbances, the complexity and duration of natural and artificial restoration.[ ...]
At the end of the 20th century, society came close to the need for purposeful management of the socio-economic development of cities, regions and even states, the transition from dealing with the consequences of irrational economic activity to creating a system of rational environmental management.[ ...]
Land protection includes a system of organizational, economic, legal, engineering and other measures aimed at protecting land from plunder, unjustified withdrawals from agricultural circulation, irrational use, harmful anthropogenic and natural impacts in order to increase the efficiency of nature management and create a favorable environmental situation.[ .. .]
The system of normative documents on environmental protection in the field of urban planning also includes departmental normative documents that establish design requirements that take into account the specifics of this industry. So, at present, one of the most important consequences of irrational nature management is the deterioration of the health of the population and the decrease in the labor potential of society. The current sanitary norms and rules are the most developed and scientifically substantiated part of environmental regulation and include a system of hygienic standards and regulations for the permissible impact of environmental factors on people's health, which serve as the basis for the regulation of urban planning requirements in the field of environmental protection.[ ...]
Unfortunately, it should be stated that in Russia, until now, the distribution of natural benefits among users of natural resources has been and is being carried out on a practically “free” basis or at minimal prices. This circumstance is certainly one of the main reasons for the irrational attitude to natural resources. It is precisely this that contributes to the formation in the public consciousness of a consumer attitude towards nature, which leads to practically ignoring the main natural and environmental factors. As a result, there is an intense degradation of the natural environment, which manifests itself not only at the local, regional, national, but also global levels. Only since 1990, payments for the use of the main types of natural resources were introduced in the Russian Federation, with the help of which, as expected, society will be able to take into account and reimburse the costs of the environmental consequences of nature management in real economic indicators. However, an objective economic assessment of natural resources is constantly faced with numerous difficult-to-solve issues. So, for example, certain types of such resources, present within the same territory, usually represent a complex in internal structure, but a single "natural object" and are almost always quite closely interconnected.[ ...]
In practice, the economic assessment of environmental damage is associated with significant difficulties associated with obtaining detailed information about changes in the physical characteristics of the relevant components of the natural environment. Difficulties arise already starting with taking into account the corresponding "contributions" of internal and external externalities to environmental damage from nature management, which partially includes the internal costs of the nature user. So, for example, as a result of irrational subsoil use, a groundwater deposit was polluted. In this case, the emergence of long-term externalities takes place, when the next generations will have to pay for the damage caused. In this regard, in each case, special research work is carried out.[ ...]
This segment of the institution of legal liability is regulated in sufficient detail in Russian legislation. Responsibility for violation of the right to forest, subsoil, water, land use and other types of use of natural resources is established both by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which, for example, contains a large number of administratively punishable encroachments on the right to use natural resources. Partially, these compositions were indicated above - in the analysis of liability for administrative offenses in the field of protection of ownership of natural resources. In addition to them, in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, one can single out: 1) violation of the requirements for the rational use of subsoil, i.e. selective (off-design) mining of mineral deposits, leading to unreasonable losses of mineral reserves, other irrational use of subsoil, leading to excess losses in the extraction of minerals minerals or in the processing of mineral raw materials (h.[ ...]
Geological monitoring. He must also track the geological risk, technological and economic opportunities for its prevention, for example, in the natural and technical systems "geological environment - gas industry facilities". In such systems, there is a close relationship and interdependence of both of its components. On the one hand, the continuously evolving geological environment affects the state of gas industry facilities, especially underground facilities and equipment; on the other hand, these technogenic systems, with irrational nature management, can cause negative consequences, for example, artificially excite geodynamic processes and thereby disrupt the natural geodynamic balance.
rational and not
nature management
Rational nature management
Nuclear energy.
In a major accident, the scale of radioactive contamination is so great that the legitimacy of the risk of further expansion of nuclear power plant construction becomes doubtful. Moreover, with the increase in the number of nuclear power plants, the degree of risk also increases. The problem of disposal of radioactive waste causes no less concern. Thus, the growth of energy consumption and its production in global terms can cause the following dangerous consequences:
· climate change due to the greenhouse effect, the likelihood of which increases due to the increase in the accumulation of carbon dioxide emitted by power plants in the atmosphere of the planet;
· the problem of neutralization and disposal of radioactive waste and dismantled equipment of nuclear reactors after the end of their service life;
· an increase in the probability of accidents in nuclear reactors;
· growth of areas and levels of environmental acidification;
· Atmospheric air pollution in cities and industrial areas as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels.
Manufacturing industry as an environmental pollutant.
The specificity of the impact of the manufacturing industry on the environment lies in the variety of pollutants for the environment and the person himself. The main channels of influence are the technogenic processing of a natural substance and its changes during processing, the reaction to the effects of technological processes (splitting, changing the composition). In the process of production and consumption, the substance of nature is so modified that it turns into a toxic material that negatively affects both nature and humans.
A feature of the manufacturing industry is the similarity of the composition of pollutants emitted by enterprises of various industries, but using similar materials, raw materials and semi-finished products.
Chemical industry.
The chemical industry is one of the dynamic manufacturing industries. It penetrated into all aspects of life: the production of medicines, preparations, vitamins, etc. All this contributed to an increase in the quality of life and the level of material security of society. However, the underside of this level is the growth of waste, poisoning of air, water bodies, soil.
There are approximately 80,000 different chemicals in the environment. Every year, 1-2 thousand new products of the chemical industry enter the trade network in the world, often without preliminary testing. In the building materials industry, the largest “contribution” to environmental pollution is made by the cement industry, the production of glass and asphalt concrete.
In the process of glass production, among the pollutants, in addition to dust, lead compounds, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, nitric oxide, arsenic are all toxic wastes, almost half of which enters the environment.
Timber industry complex.
It is well known that the area of forests is being catastrophically reduced under the impact of the increasing demand for wood and arable areas due to the growth of the total human population.
Types of violation of the environmental friendliness of the use of forest resources:
Violation of existing rules and norms of forest management;
· the technology of skidding and removal of wood contradicts the protective functions of mountain forests (the use of caterpillar tractors), leads to the destruction of the soil cover, stripping of the forest litter, increased erosion processes, destruction of undergrowth and young growth;
· reforestation works do not keep pace with deforestation due to poor planting survival, as a result of negligent care.
Energy factor
The energy factor is of great importance in connection with the shortage of energy resources and the implementation of an energy-saving policy in the European regions of the country. In highly energy-intensive industries of the chemical industry and non-ferrous metallurgy (kapron and viscose silk, aluminum, nickel), fuel consumption significantly exceeds the weight of finished products, reaching 7–10 tons or more for each ton. The total energy costs for the production of such products are greater than for raw materials and materials. The share of the energy component is the largest, in addition to the electric power industry, in metallurgy, chemical and petrochemical industries. In ferrous metallurgy, the pulp and paper industry, the production of copper, lead, hydrolysis yeast, caustic soda and some other specific energy intensity of production is 1-3 tons of standard fuel, but the total need for energy resources due to large production volumes is very significant. Therefore, the further development of energy-intensive industries is most effective in the eastern regions, primarily in Siberia, on the basis of the rich and cheap energy resources available there.
water factor
The water factor plays a significant, and in some cases a decisive role in the location of enterprises in the chemical, pulp and paper, textile industries, ferrous metallurgy, and the electric power industry. The cost of the entire range of water management activities (water supply, wastewater disposal and treatment) ranges from 1–2% to 15–25% of the cost of an enterprise under construction in water-intensive industries. As a result, they should be located in Siberia, the Far East, the European North, where the cost of 1 m3 of fresh water is 3–4 times less than in the regions of the Center and South of the European part.
Labor factor
The labor factor (the cost of living labor for the manufacture of products) remains important in the location of mechanical engineering (in particular, instrumentation), light industry, and also the largest enterprises in other industries. Since labor costs per 1 ton of production and the share of wages in the cost do not give a correct idea of the labor intensity of products, it is advisable to focus on the absolute need of each enterprise for labor when organizing the placement of productive forces, taking into account the labor factor.
Land factor
The land factor becomes especially acute when allocating sites for industrial construction (their size for large enterprises reaches hundreds of hectares), in areas of intensive agriculture and cities in conditions of limited urban communications and engineering structures. The most rational option in this case is the group placement of enterprises in the form of industrial hubs.
Raw factor
The raw material factor determines the consumption of materials, i.e., the consumption of raw materials and basic materials per unit of finished product. To industries with the highest indices of material consumption (more than 1.5 tons of raw materials and materials per
1 ton of products) includes ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy of the full cycle, pulp and paper, hydrolysis, plywood, cement, sugar industries. At the same time, enterprises remote from sources of supply of raw materials, enterprises with large-tonnage products (metallurgical, chemical, pulp and paper mills) require special attention. When placing them, it is necessary to correctly determine the areas of consumption of finished products and the costs of its transportation.
Transport factor
The transport factor for Russia with its significant continental spaces is of particular importance. Despite the systematic reduction in the share of transport costs in the cost of industrial products, in a number of industries it remains very high - from 20% for ferrous metal ores to 40% for mineral building materials. The transportability of raw materials and finished products depends on the material intensity of production, the transport intensity of transported goods, the quality properties of raw materials and finished products from the standpoint of the possibility of their transportation and storage. With a material intensity index of more than 1.0, production gravitates towards raw material bases, less than 1.0 - towards regions and places of consumption of finished products.
Agro-climatic conditions
Agro-climatic conditions play a decisive role in the distribution of agricultural activities of the population. The specialization and efficiency of the agricultural sector of the Russian economy is directly related to the natural fertility of soils, climate, and the water regime of the territory. Agricultural assessment of the climate is based on a comparison of the agro-climatic conditions of the territory with the requirements of various cultivated plants for their life factors and has significant regional differences.
Environmental factors in the distribution of productive forces at the present stage of economic development play a special role, since they are directly related to the careful use of natural resources and the provision of the necessary living conditions for the population. Significant economic losses from anthropogenic pollution of the natural environment, the growing negative consequences for public health have led to the urgent need to constantly take into account the environmental factor in the location of production.
Features of socio-historical development. These include: the nature of social relations, the features of the current stage of development of the state, the stability of the economic and political system, the perfection of the legislative framework, etc.
The last decades have been marked by a noticeable change in the role of factors in the distribution of productive forces in a developed market environment. Thus, the process of scientification (synthesis of science with production) led to the advancement to the forefront in the placement of industry of potential opportunities for establishing close ties along the line of cooperation and attraction of industrial enterprises to the largest scientific centers. However, due to the extremely high fuel, energy, raw materials and material intensity of the Russian economy, the specifics of the sectoral structure of its economy and the gigantic continental spaces, new factors in the distribution of productive forces in our country have not yet acquired such great importance as in developed post-industrial countries.
Of the variety of factors in the location of the economy, some of them are characteristic of many sectors of the production complex (for example, attraction to the consumer) and the non-productive sphere, others are inherent only in one industry or group of industries (gravitation to recreational resources).
However, each sector of the economy has its own set of factors for its placement. Moreover, even factors common with other industries in each specific case manifest themselves with different strengths, and if for some industries any factor has a decisive influence on the location of the industry, then in another industry it is of secondary importance.
Thus:
Each sector of the economy is characterized by its own set and combination of factors of its placement;
· The combination and role of individual factors of the location of the economy in a particular area depends on the sectoral structure of the economy of the country or region.
At the same time, for most branches of the non-manufacturing sphere, consumer orientation is the most important factor in their placement. And the higher the share of non-production sectors in the economic complex of a country or region, the greater the role in the location of the economy is played by the attraction to the consumer. Since the sectoral structure of most countries of the world is evolving along the path of increasing the share of non-manufacturing sectors and reducing the manufacturing sector, it can be stated that the increasing role of the consumer factor in the location of the economy is a global trend.
Traditional Approaches
Territorial approach
For Russia, with its gigantic expanses, the territorial approach is of great importance, the application of which makes it possible to regulate territorial and economic processes. The essence of this approach is to take into account the complex relationships between various objects and phenomena located on the same territory. At the same time, the study is carried out at different spatial levels (ranks), the highest of which is global, followed by regional (subregional), national (country), district and local levels. The need to apply the territorial approach stems from the existence of a territorial organization of the country and the existing political and administrative structure of the Russian Federation. The huge scale of Russia, the variety of natural and social conditions characteristic of individual zones and regions presupposes taking into account regional features in solving complex economic problems, especially the development of new territories. This approach was used in previous decades and found its manifestation in the development of such programs as the transformation of the Non-Chernozem zone of Russia, the development of the BAM zone, the development of the economy and culture of the small peoples of the North.
The territorial approach reveals ways of rational distribution of production throughout the country and its regions, ensuring the integrated development of individual territories based on their rational specialization, optimal dynamic spatial proportions of production and distribution of products, improving settlement systems, nature protection and improving the environment. At the same time, the ultimate goal of using the territorial approach in studying the distribution of productive forces is the most effective development of the economy in the interests of society as a whole.
A complex approach
An integrated approach means establishing the optimal interconnection between the elements of the economy of a certain territory, in which the main economic function (specialization) of the region is successfully performed based on the rational use of its natural, scientific, industrial, technical and socio-economic potential.
An integrated approach involves the balance of economic and social aspects of the functioning of the economy, the proportionality of the development of specialized, auxiliary and service industries, material production and the non-productive sector by coordinating the activities of enterprises and organizations of various departmental subordination located in the region.
Historical approach
The historical approach reveals the patterns of development of various territorial objects, processes and phenomena, the features of their occurrence and functioning at different time stages, makes it possible to trace the trends in their development.
Typological approach
The typological approach is used in territorial studies of various objects when comparing classifications (groupings) and typologies. This approach is associated with the development of such typologies that notice the quantitative differences in spatial objects, and the search for characterizing features and fundamental criteria for these typologies.
New approaches
Systems approach
A systematic approach involves considering each object (phenomenon, process, complex) as a complex formation, consisting of various elements (structural parts) interacting with each other. The application of this approach is most expedient when studying objects with various internal and external communications (territorial production complexes, transport system).
Ecological approach
The ecological approach involves the identification and study of the links that exist between the object under study and its environment. According to Academician I.P. Gerasimov, it should include control over changes in the environment, forecasting the consequences of the impact of economic activity on the environment, and optimizing the environment in the created natural and technical systems.
constructive approach
A constructive approach is associated with a change in spatial objects, phenomena and processes from the point of view of the possibility and expediency of their use in human life and economic activity. This approach is a kind of tool for building the optimal territorial organization of society and the basis for the development of applied regional research (district planning, long-term forecast of socio-economic development, etc.).
Behavioral Approach
The behavioral approach is used to study the behavior of people in space, which is determined by the peculiarities of the perception of the environment by various social, professional, gender and age, ethnic and other groups of people and is manifested in population migrations, the planning structure of settlements, the territorial organization of places of employment, etc.
Problem approach
The problematic approach focuses the study on the analysis and solution of a problem - a subjective category (since it is formulated by people) and acting as a barrier to achieving the goal. The goal of the development of society is a social benchmark (result) that must be achieved and in accordance with which society organizes its resources. Accordingly, a problem is understood as a concentrated expression of the contradictions of space-time development, which is important for the distribution of productive forces.
nature management- is the activity of human society, aimed at meeting their needs through the use of natural resources.
Allocate rational and irrational nature management.
Irrational nature management- this is a system of nature management, in which easily accessible natural resources are used in large quantities and not completely, which leads to the rapid depletion of resources. In this case, a large amount of waste is produced and the environment is heavily polluted.
Irrational environmental management is typical for an economy that develops through new construction, the development of new lands, the use of natural resources, and an increase in the number of employees. Such an economy at first brings good results with a relatively low scientific and technical level of production, but quickly leads to a decrease in natural and labor resources.
Rational nature management- this is a system of nature management, in which extracted natural resources are used to a sufficient extent, restoration of renewable natural resources is ensured, production wastes are fully and repeatedly used (i.e. waste-free production is organized), which can significantly reduce environmental pollution.
Rational nature management is characteristic of an intensive economy, which develops on the basis of scientific and technological progress and good organization of labor with high labor productivity. An example of environmental management can be waste-free production, in which waste is fully used, resulting in reduced consumption of raw materials and minimizing environmental pollution.
One of the types of non-waste production is the multiple use of water taken from rivers, lakes, boreholes, etc. in the technological process. The used water is purified and re-used in the production process.
nature management- the activity of human society, aimed at meeting their needs through the use of natural resources. There are rational and irrational nature management.
Irrational nature management is a system of nature management in which the most easily accessible natural resources are used in huge quantities and usually not to the full extent, which leads to their rapid depletion.
In this case, a huge amount of waste is produced and the environment is exposed to great pollution. Irrational nature management is inherent in an extensive type of economy, for an economy that develops through more and more new construction, the development of virgin lands, the use of natural resources, and an increase in the number of employees at enterprises.
An extensive economy may at first bring good results even with a relatively low scientific and technical level of industrial production, but soon it leads to the exhaustion of natural and labor resources in the country. One of the countless examples of irrational nature management is slash-and-burn agriculture, which is widespread even today in Southeast Asia. Land burning ultimately leads to the destruction of wood, air pollution, the emergence of uncontrolled fires, etc.
Most often, irrational nature management becomes a consequence of departmental interests and the interests of modern transnational corporations that have hazardous industries in developing countries.
Rational nature management is a system of nature management in which extracted natural resources are fully used (and, accordingly, the amount of consumed resources is reduced), renewable natural resources are restored, production wastes are repeatedly and fully used (waste-free production), which makes it possible to significantly reduce environmental pollution . Rational nature management is inherent in the intensive type of economy, which follows the path of development based on scientific and technological progress and optimal organization of labor with high labor productivity. An example of rational environmental management is non-waste production or a non-waste production cycle, in which waste is most fully used, resulting in a reduction in the consumption of raw materials.
Mineral resources- such resources are minerals extracted from the bowels. Also, minerals are understood as natural mineral substances of the earth's crust, which, with the established level of technological development, can be extracted with a positive economic effect and used in production in their natural form or pre-processed. The use of mineral resources in the modern world is constantly growing. If, for example, in the Middle Ages only 18 chemical elements were extracted from the earth's crust, then at present this number has increased to more than 80 elements. Since 1950, the extraction of minerals in the world has increased 3 times. Every year, more than 100 billion tons of mineral raw materials and fuel are extracted from the bowels of the planet. The modern national economy uses approximately 200 types of various mineral raw materials. It should be borne in mind that almost all of them belong to the category of non-renewable, and also, the reserves of their individual species are far from the same. For example, the general geological reserves of coal in the world are approximately 14.8 trillion tons, and oil - 400 billion tons. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the ever-growing needs of mankind.
Land resources- the earth's surface suitable for human habitation, as well as for construction and any other types of its economic activity. In addition to the size of the territory, land resources characterize their quality: relief, soil cover and a complex of other natural conditions. The wealth of mankind in land resources is determined primarily by the vast world land fund, which, according to various estimates, ranges from 13.1 to 14.9 billion hectares. One of the main characteristics of land resources is the structure of the land fund, i.e. the ratio of areas that are occupied by forests, crops, pastures, settlements, roads, industrial enterprises, etc. The composition of the land fund also includes inconvenient farms lands such as deserts, highlands, etc.
In the structure of the world land fund, cultivated land occupies only 11%, while meadows and pastures from 23 to 25%, forests and shrubs - 31%, and settlements only 2%. Almost the entire rest of the territory is made up of unproductive and unproductive lands.
These include mountains, deserts, glaciers, swamps, etc. But despite their scarcity, cultivated lands provide humanity with 88% of the necessary food.
The main arrays of arable land on the planet are located in the Northern Hemisphere, namely: in Western and Eastern Europe, in Southern Siberia, in South, East, Southeast Asia and on the plains of the USA and Canada. These lands are located mainly in the forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones of the world. Pasture lands are also very important for human society and provide about 10% of the food consumed by people. Territories occupied by forests are of great importance as a source of valuable timber, as the “lungs” of our planet, which produce oxygen necessary for human life. Forest areas create forest resources.
Land water resources- rivers, lakes, underground waters. There are several directions for the use of water resources. The most important of these is the satisfaction of human needs for fresh water. For this, river waters are widely used.
According to some estimates, about 47 thousand km3 pass through the rivers annually, according to others, only 40 thousand km3. This is not so much, considering that less than 50% of this amount can actually be used. The need of mankind for fresh water is constantly increasing. In 1980 it was 3.5 thousand km3 per year, and by 2000 it should increase to 5 thousand km3 per year.
Almost 65% of all river water is consumed by agriculture, where its irretrievable consumption is very high, especially for irrigation.
Such an increase in consumption with constant river flow resources can lead to a shortage of fresh water.
And many countries have long experienced such a shortage.
To solve the problem of water supply in the world, various ways are used. The main one is saving water, reducing its losses through the introduction of more modern methods and technologies. An important role in this is played by the construction of reservoirs. Currently, more than 30 thousand reservoirs have been built in the world, the total volume of which is approximately 6.5 thousand km3.
This is 3.5 times greater than the one-time volume of water in all the rivers of the globe. Taken together, the reservoirs occupy an area of 400 thousand km2, which is 10 times the area of the Sea of Azov.
The countries with the largest number of large reservoirs include the United States (reservoirs on the Missouri and Colorado rivers) and Russia (the Volga and Yenisei cascades of reservoirs).
As other measures for solving the water problem, one can consider: desalination of sea water, common in the countries of the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, Turkmenistan, in the south of the USA, in Japan, on the Caribbean islands; redistribution of river runoff in moisture-rich areas (USA, Canada, Australia, India, etc.).
The latter requires a particularly cautious approach, since on a large scale it can bring much more environmental damage than economic benefits. In many countries of the world, water is transported in sea tankers and transferred through long-distance water pipelines. Today, even the ideas of transporting Antarctic icebergs to the countries of the hot zone are being considered. Rivers are widely used in the world also for energy production. There are three categories of hydropower potential. The theoretical (gross) hydro potential, which is usually estimated at 30–50 trillion kW/h of possible electricity generation per year, the technical potential is about 20 trillion kW/h per year. In the modern world, groundwater is also a source of fresh water, which is used both for medicinal purposes (mineral waters) and for heating (thermal springs).
forest resources- one of the most important types of biosphere resources. Forest resources include wood, cork, resin, mushrooms, berries, nuts, medicinal plants, hunting and trade resources, etc., as well as useful properties of the forest: climate-regulating, water-protective, anti-erosion, health-improving, etc.
Forest resources are classified as renewable resources and are considered according to two main criteria: the size of the forest area and the stock of standing timber. Thus, forests occupy 4.1 billion hectares or about 27% of the Earth's land area, and the world's timber reserves are about 350 billion m3, which, due to constant growth, increase annually by 5.5 billion m3.
However, forests are often cut down for arable land and plantations, for construction. In addition, wood is quite widely used for firewood and woodworking products. The result is deforestation, which is rampant today.
The area of forests in the world is annually reduced by at least 25 million hectares, and the world timber harvesting in 2000 already reached 5 billion m3. This means that its annual annual growth is fully utilized. The largest area of forests has been preserved in Eurasia. This is about 40% of all world forests and almost 42% of the total wood supply, including 2/3 of the most valuable wood species.
Australia has the smallest forest coverage. Since the sizes of the continents are not the same, their forest cover, the ratio of the forested area to the total area of the continent, is taken into account. According to this indicator, South America occupies the first place in the world.
In the economic assessment of forest resources, such a characteristic as timber reserves is of primary importance. On this basis, the countries of Asia, South and North America are in the lead.
Leading positions in this area are occupied by such countries as Russia, Canada, USA, Brazil. The countries are characterized by the practical absence of forests: Libya, Bahrain, Qatar, etc.
Resources of the oceans- the main resources of the oceans are biological, energy, mineral and energy.
Biological resources of the oceans- animals and plants, the energy generated today by the country's hydroelectric power plants. The biomass of the World Ocean is 140 billion tons of water.
The oceans have huge reserves of deuterium, its resources are diverse.
One of the most important resources are animals (fish, mollusks, cetaceans) actively swimming in the water column and mineral resources. The biological and mineral resources of the world's oceans are exhaustible. Their uncontrolled use endangered the existence of marine mammals, led to a strong reduction in the number of fish and bottom plants and animals. Humans mainly harvest fish, which accounts for 85% of the marine biomass used, and bivalve mollusks (scallops, oysters, mussels). Algae are being used more and more. Medicines, starch are obtained from algae, paper and fabrics are made. Algae is an excellent livestock feed and a good fertilizer. There are more or less productive areas in the ocean. The most productive include the Norwegian, Bering, Okhotsk and Japan seas. The resources of the world's oceans are still underused. Ocean waters are rapidly polluted. A huge amount of "dirt" is carried into the ocean from land by rivers and sewage. More than 30% of the ocean surface is covered with an oil film, which is destructive for all living things.
The destruction of plankton, i.e., the simplest organisms and crustaceans passively floating in the water, led to a reduction in fish production. Radioactive products enter the World Ocean, which also pollute its waters.
Mineral resources of the World Ocean- resources that are in the water itself, and those that are mined from its bottom. The most valuable resource is the water itself, which contains 75 chemical elements. On an industrial scale, sodium, chlorine, magnesium and bromine are already extracted from it. But when extracting these elements, some compounds of potassium and calcium are obtained as by-products.
Seawater desalination is becoming increasingly important. The bottom of the oceans is also rich in mineral resources. They include ore deposits under the bottom surface.
Energy resources- Modern man needs an extremely large amount of energy: for heating housing, for the operation of equipment and transport, lighting. Energy consumption has increased 100 times in the last century. Even now it is increasing so rapidly that very soon there may not be enough natural resources to meet all human needs. Energy sources are very diverse. These are coal, oil, peat, gas, falling water, wind, nuclear energy. All these types of energy, except for atomic energy, are the energy of the Sun. The water cycle in nature is accomplished thanks to solar heat; Air moves also thanks to the Sun.
Coal, gas and oil is a natural fuel formed from the fossil remains of animals and plants that have accumulated underground and turned into combustible substances over millions of years. It is the most important source of energy, it provides about 75% of all our electricity needs. The largest gas field is considered Urengoy in Russia.
It produces up to 200,000 million m3 of gas per year. The largest oil field - Khawar - is located in Saudi Arabia, it occupies 8000 km2. Peat is a less valuable fuel; it is used in industry less than gas and oil. It is formed continuously. Every autumn, the plants in the swamp die off, and peat layers form in their place.
In addition to fuel, today hundreds of different products are produced from oil, coal and gas. Even sitting in a room, you can count dozens of them: plastic parts of the TV set, music center, nylon shirts, foam mattress, nylon stockings, cellophane bags, washing powder, medicines (aspirin, streptocide, pyramidon, etc.).
Every year the energy resources of the world are decreasing, as a result, the processing and conservation of energy are becoming more and more important for humanity. It is necessary that as much plastic, glass, paper, metal as possible be recycled. As far as possible, it is desirable to reduce energy consumption in industrial and domestic areas.
It is possible to save oil and gas by using new types of energy, such as nuclear energy, solar energy, and wind energy.
Man has learned to use the atom for peaceful purposes. In the atomic bomb, a dangerous weapon, when the nucleus fissions, energy is released in a fraction of a second. In a power plant, the control rods in the reactor delay the process while providing a gradual release of energy. For several months, you can use this energy by converting it into electricity. The fuel elements for a nuclear reactor are uranium dioxide pellets, which are placed in thin tubes separated by partitions. There are different types of reactors. Some of them were previously used in weapons. So, for example, the first N-reactors were created for plutonium bombs. Magnox reactors produce plutonium and electricity. The most commonly used reactors are those that were previously used on nuclear submarines. The most advanced at present are gas-cooled reactors.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is considered the largest. It has 10 separate reactors, which together give 8,814 megawatts. The biggest problem is the disposal of nuclear waste. Scientists have calculated that it will take 80,000 years for the radioactive waste already accumulated in the modern world to disappear.
Renewable energy sources are the safest in this respect. Most of the energy generated on the planet is provided by fossil fuels, and they are coming to an end. The use of nuclear energy also has a number of problems. As a result, a person needs such renewable energy sources as sunlight, wind, heat from the Earth's core, waves. Now they produce about 5% of all energy on the planet with their help, but it is possible that in the future this figure will grow. The main source of much of the energy on Earth is the Sun. It is it that helps the growth of plants, causing the water to evaporate, forms clouds that fall to the ground as rain, replenishing the rivers. The sun governs both the wind and the waves. Every year the sun provides the amount of heat equal to the energy that can be obtained from 60 bln tons of oil. Even a hundredth part of it with 5% efficiency will provide any country in the world with electricity.
But there's a problem. Oil and other fossil fuels are very easy to use, as they carry energy that has accumulated between layers of rocks under pressure for millions of years. But sunlight can be converted into electricity so far only with the help of solar cells. It is not easy to do this effectively, as it is dispersed over vast areas. Electricity is thus difficult to collect in large quantities.
The same problems begin when trying to "tame" the wind. Like the energy of sunlight, it is difficult to use it in industrial quantities. But it is suitable for local application. Already in ancient times, people built windmills. Under sail on caravels, travelers set off "to distant lands." It was on sailing ships that the first round-the-world voyage was made. Already in ancient Egypt, primitive wind turbines were built to grind grain and irrigate fields. Several thousand wind turbines are currently operating in our country, and there are also wind farms. But, just like the energy of sunlight, only a small fraction of wind energy is used so far. Although this energy is very high. Scientists believe that every year the winds carry only over the territory of Russia almost 3 times more energy than that contained in coal, oil, peat, and the country's rivers.
It is of great importance that wind farms can be built in any corner of our country. Wind turbines are widely used at polar stations located on the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Although in winter there are very severe frosts, up to -50 ° C, wind turbines function flawlessly. It is they who always provide polar explorers with light and heat, give current to their radio receivers and radio transmitters.
Environmental pollution— undesirable changes in its properties as a result of anthropogenic intake of various substances and compounds. Environmental pollution leads to harmful effects on the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere.
The main source of such pollution is the return to nature of a huge amount of waste that is formed in the process of production and consumption of human society.
According to scientists, already in 1970 they amounted to 40 million tons, and by the end of the 20th century. their volume has reached 100 billion tons. The entry into the environment of chemicals synthesized by man and not previously existing in nature is especially dangerous.
It is clear that resources are indeed limited and should be treated sparingly. With the irrational use of resources, it is necessary to talk about the problem of their limitations, because if you do not stop the waste of a resource, in the future, when it is needed, it simply will not exist. But, although the problem of scarcity of resources has been clear for a long time, in different countries one can see vivid examples of wasting resources. For example, in Russia, at present, the state policy in the field of energy conservation is based on the priority of the efficient use of energy resources and the implementation of state supervision over this process. The state insists on the obligatory accounting by legal entities of the energy resources produced or consumed by them, as well as accounting by individuals of the energy resources they receive. The state standards for equipment, materials and structures, vehicles include indicators of their energy efficiency. An important area is the certification of energy-consuming, energy-saving and diagnostic equipment, materials, structures, vehicles and, of course, energy resources. All this is based on a combination of interests of consumers, suppliers and producers of energy resources, as well as the interest of legal entities in the efficient use of energy resources. At the same time, even on the example of the Middle Urals, 25-30 million tons of standard fuel (tce) is consumed annually in the region, and approximately 9 million tce is used irrationally. It turns out that imported fuel and energy resources (FER) are mainly spent irrationally. At the same time, about 3 million tce can be reduced through organizational measures. Most energy saving plans have exactly this goal, but so far have not been able to achieve it.
Also an example of the irrational use of minerals can be an open pit for coal mining near Angren. In addition, at the previously developed deposits of non-ferrous metals Ingichka, Kuytash, Kalkamar, Kurgashin, losses during the extraction and enrichment of ore reached 20-30%. At the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, several years ago, such accompanying components as molybdenum, mercury, and lead were not completely smelted from the processed ore. In recent years, due to the transition to the integrated development of mineral deposits, the degree of non-production losses has significantly decreased, but it is still far from full rationalization.
The government approved a program aimed at halting soil degradation, as a result of which the annual damage to the economy is more than 200 million USD.
But so far the program is only being introduced into agriculture, and at present, 56.4% of all agricultural land is affected by degradation processes of varying degrees. According to scientists, the processes of soil degradation have intensified in recent decades as a result of the irrational use of land resources, a decrease in the areas of protective forest plantations, the destruction of anti-erosion hydraulic structures, and natural disasters. Financing of the program for hydro-reclamation anti-erosion work is envisaged to be carried out at the expense of extra-budgetary funds of interested ministries and departments, funds from the purchase and sale of public property lands, from the collection of land tax, at the expense of economic entities and the state budget. According to experts involved in agricultural support programs, the problem of soil degradation is aggravating every day, but the implementation of the state program is more than problematic in the face of financial deficit. The state will not be able to raise the necessary funds, and the economic entities of the agricultural sector do not have the funds to invest in soil protection measures.
Russia's forest resources make up one fifth of the planet's forest resources. The total stock of wood in the forests of Russia is 80 billion cubic meters. meters. The environmentally safe development of the economy and society largely depends on the level of preservation and completeness of the realization of the richest potential of biological resources. But forests in Russia are constantly suffering from fires and damage by harmful insects and plant diseases, which is mainly a consequence of the low technical equipment and limited funding of the state forest protection service. The volume of reforestation work has been reduced in recent years and in a number of regions it no longer meets forestry and environmental standards.
Also, with the transition to market relations, the number of forest users has significantly increased, which in a number of places has led to an increase in violations of forest and environmental legislation when using forests.
A fundamentally important property of biological resources is their ability to self-reproduce. However, as a result of the ever-increasing anthropogenic impact on the environment and overexploitation, the raw material potential of biological resources is declining, and the populations of many plant and animal species are degrading and endangered. Therefore, in order to organize the rational use of biological resources, it is necessary, first of all, to provide environmentally sound limits for their exploitation (withdrawal), which exclude depletion and loss of the ability of biological resources to reproduce themselves. In addition, prices for forest resources are extremely low in Russia, so forests are cut down and are not considered of great value. But having cut down all the forest wealth, we risk losing a lot of money for the purchase of wood in other countries, as well as destroying the natural air purifier. Fedorenko N. To assess the effectiveness of the use of Russia's national resources. // Questions of Economics.-2005-№8-p. 31-40.
The Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" states that "... the reproduction and rational use of natural resources ... the necessary conditions for ensuring a favorable environment and environmental safety ..."
Nature management (use of natural resources) is a combination of all forms of human impact on nature and its resources. The main forms of influence are exploration and withdrawal (development) of natural resources, their involvement in economic circulation (transportation, sale, processing, etc.), as well as the protection of natural resources. In possible cases - renewal (reproduction).
According to environmental consequences, nature management is divided into rational and irrational. Rational nature management is a consciously regulated, purposeful activity carried out taking into account the laws of nature and providing:
- society's need for natural resources while maintaining a balance between economic development and the sustainability of the natural environment;
- environmentally friendly natural environment for human health and life;
- preservation of natural resources in the interests of present and future generations of people.
A prerequisite is the legislative provision of nature management at the state level, regulation, implementation of measures aimed at solving environmental problems and monitoring the state of the natural environment.
Irrational nature management is an activity associated with a high intensity of the use of natural resources, which does not ensure the preservation of the natural resource complex, which violates the laws of nature. As a result of such activities, the quality of the natural environment deteriorates, it is degraded, natural resources are depleted, the natural basis of human life is undermined, and their health is harmed. Such nature management violates environmental safety, can lead to environmental crises and even disasters.
An ecological crisis is a critical state of the environment that threatens human existence.
Ecological catastrophe - changes in the natural environment, often caused by the impact of human economic activity, a man-made accident or a natural disaster, which led to adverse changes in the natural environment and are accompanied by mass death of people or damage to the health of the population of the region, the death of living organisms, vegetation, large losses of material values and natural resources.
Reasons for irrational use of natural resources include:
- the unbalanced and unsafe system of nature management that spontaneously developed in the last century;
- the idea among the population that many natural resources are given to a person for nothing (he cut down a tree to build a house, took water from a well, picked berries in the forest); the entrenched concept of a “free” resource that does not stimulate thrift, encourages wastefulness;
- social conditions that caused a sharp increase in population, the growth of productive forces on the planet and, accordingly, the impact of human society on nature and its resources (life expectancy has increased, mortality has decreased, the production of food, consumer goods, housing, and other benefits has increased).
After humanity realized what was happening and began to compare economic benefits with the opportunities and environmental losses of nature, the quality of the environment began to be considered as an economic category (goods). The consumer of this product is primarily the population living in a certain territory, and then industry, construction, transport and other sectors of the economy.
Many advanced countries, starting with Japan, embarked on the path of resource conservation in the middle of the 20th century, while the economy of our country continued its extensive (costly) development, in which the growth in production increased mainly due to the involvement of new natural resources in the economic circulation. And at present, an unreasonably large amount of use of natural resources remains. The extraction of natural resources is constantly growing. For example, water consumption in Russia (for the needs of the population, industry, agriculture) has increased 7 times over 100 years. The consumption of energy resources has increased many times over.
Another problem is the fact that only about 2% of the extracted minerals go into finished products. The rest of the amount is stored in dumps, dispersed during transportation and reloading, lost during inefficient technological processes, replenishes waste. At the same time, pollutants enter the natural environment (soil and vegetation cover, water sources, atmosphere). Large losses of raw materials are also due to the lack of economic interest in the rational and complete extraction of all useful components from it.
Economic activity has destroyed entire populations of animals and plants, many species of insects, has led to a progressive decrease in water resources, to the filling of underground workings with fresh water, due to which aquifers of groundwater that feed rivers and are sources of drinking water supply are dehydrated.
The result of irrational nature management was an intensive decrease in soil fertility. Acid rains - the culprits of soil acidification - are formed when industrial emissions, flue gases and vehicle exhausts are dissolved in atmospheric moisture. From this, the reserves of nutrients in the soil are reduced, which leads to the defeat of soil organisms, a decrease in soil fertility. The main sources and causes of soil pollution with heavy metals (especially dangerous soil pollution with lead and cadmium) are car exhaust gases, emissions from large enterprises. From the burning of coal, fuel oil, oil shale, soils are polluted with benz (a) pyrene, dioxins, and heavy metals. Sources of soil pollution are urban sewage, industrial and domestic waste dumps, from which rain and melt water carry unpredictable sets of components, including dangerous ones, into soils and groundwater. Harmful substances, getting into the soil, plants, living organisms, can accumulate there to high, life-threatening concentrations. Soil radioactive contamination is caused by nuclear power plants, uranium and enrichment mines, radioactive waste storage facilities.
When agricultural cultivation of the land is carried out in violation of the scientific foundations of agriculture, soil erosion inevitably occurs - the process of destruction of the upper, most fertile soil layers under the influence of wind or water. Water erosion is the washing away of soil by melt or storm water.
Atmospheric pollution as a result of irrational nature management is a change in its composition when impurities of technogenic (from industrial sources) or natural (from forest fires, volcanic eruptions, etc.) origin enter. Emissions from enterprises (chemicals, dust, gases) spread through the air over considerable distances. As a result of their deposition, the vegetation cover is damaged, the productivity of agricultural land, animal husbandry and fisheries is reduced, and the chemical composition of surface and ground waters changes. All this has an impact not only on natural systems, but also on the social environment.
Motor transport is the largest air pollutant of all other vehicles. It is the share of road transport that accounts for more than half of all harmful emissions into the atmosphere. It has been established that road transport is also the leader in terms of a set of harmful components in exhaust gases, which contain about 200 different hydrocarbons, as well as other harmful substances, many of which are carcinogens, i.e. substances that promote the development of cancer cells in living organisms.
A pronounced human impact of vehicle emissions is recorded in large cities. In houses located near highways (closer than 10 m from them), residents get cancer 3-4 times more often than in houses located at a distance of 50 m or more from the road.
Water pollution as a result of irrational nature management occurs mainly due to oil spills in tanker accidents, nuclear waste disposal, domestic and industrial sewage discharges. This is a big threat to the natural processes of the water cycle in nature in its most critical link - evaporation from the surface of the ocean. When oil products enter water bodies with wastewater, they cause profound changes in the composition of aquatic vegetation and wildlife, as their habitat conditions are violated. The surface oil film prevents the penetration of sunlight, which is necessary for the vital activity of vegetation and animal organisms.
A serious problem for humanity is the pollution of fresh water. The water quality of most water bodies does not meet regulatory requirements. About half of the population of Russia is already forced to use water for drinking purposes that does not meet hygienic regulatory requirements. One of the main properties of fresh water as a component of the environment is its indispensability. The environmental load on the rivers has increased especially sharply due to insufficient quality of wastewater treatment. Oil products remain the most common pollutants for surface waters. The number of rivers with a high level of pollution is constantly growing. The current level of wastewater treatment is such that even in waters that have undergone biological treatment, the content of nitrates and phosphates is sufficient for intensive blooming of reservoirs.
The state of groundwater is assessed as pre-critical and tending to further deterioration. Pollution enters them with runoff from industrial and urban areas, from landfills, from fields treated with chemicals. Of the substances polluting surface and groundwater, in addition to petroleum products, the most common are phenols, heavy metals (copper, zinc, lead, cadmium, nickel, mercury), sulfates, chlorides, nitrogen compounds, and lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury are highly toxic metals.
An example of an irrational attitude to the most valuable natural resource - clean drinking water - is the depletion of the natural resources of Lake Baikal. Depletion is associated with the intensity of the development of the lake's wealth, the use of environmentally dirty technologies and outdated equipment at enterprises that dump their sewage (with insufficient cleaning) into the waters of Lake Baikal and the rivers flowing into it.
Further deterioration of the state of the environment poses a serious threat to the population and future generations of Russia. It is possible to restore practically any destruction, but it is impossible to revive the disturbed nature in the foreseeable future even for big money. It will take centuries to stop its further destruction and postpone the approach of an ecological catastrophe in the world.
Residents of industrialized cities have an increased level of morbidity, as they are forced to constantly be in a polluted environment (the concentration of harmful substances in which can exceed the MPC by 10 or more times). To the greatest extent, air pollution is manifested in an increase in respiratory diseases and a decrease in immunity, especially in children, in the growth of oncological diseases in the population. Control samples of food products of agricultural production unacceptably often show non-compliance with state standards.
The deterioration of the quality of the environment in Russia can cost the cause of the violation of the human gene pool. This is manifested in an increase in the number of diseases, including congenital ones, and a decrease in average life expectancy. The negative genetic consequences of environmental pollution on the state of nature can be expressed in the appearance of mutants, previously unknown diseases of animals and plants, a reduction in populations, and the depletion of traditional biological resources.
