ИСТИНА

Ecosystem services are all those benefits that people receive from ecosystems. Four types of ecosystem services are distinguished: providing, regulatory, and cultural services, as well as supporting services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services. Cultural services include recreational, educational, spiritual, aesthetic, religious and other non-material benefits derived from ecosystems. The concept of "green infrastructure" is actively developing in the practice of territorial planning of developed countries, including both Japan and Russia. The "green infrastructure" includes natural areas (forests, meadows, wetlands, coastal landscapes, and others) as well as various green spaces (parks, gardens, hedges, levees, etc.) that perform the functions of climate and river flow regulation, protection against floods and other natural hazards, air and water purification, providing habitats for animals and birds, and many others. Cultural functions of the "green infrastructure" play an important role. Both countries have long traditions of integrated, multifunctional use of various elements of green infrastructure. The current intensification of the economy, along with such processes as population decline and aging, especially in rural areas, leads to a significant loss of many important ecosystem functions and services. At the present stage, much attention is paid to the maintenance of traditional methods of nature management in order to preserve ecosystems and their services. The presentation examines ecosystem services of various elements of the "green infrastructure" of Japan and Russia such as forests, coastal landscapes, paddy fields, and Japanese gardens. The last two elements are especially characteristic of Japan, although rice is grown in some south regions of Russia and Japanese gardens are very popular now in many Russian cities too.