ИСТИНА

Land use/cover change (LUCC) is a complex process, driven by both natural and anthropogenic factors. LUCC transformations under human activities are threatened to the sustainability of environment and people life-support systems. One of the important issues is how to balance land cover capability and land use practice with anthropogenic stress. Russia is distinguished by a graphic share of such problems, and one of them is the elaboration of sustainable land use policy that is especially important during current land use restructuring connected with many geopolitical, economic and social problems. The reform in Russian land use system has begun about twenty years ago; the land codes were accepted to regulate land ownership and land resources usage, especially for the agricultural lands. However the laws’ applicability is still limited, the lands are mostly under federal ownership and agriculture is dominated by the collective farms. Integrated approach on the base of landscape methodology was used to map and to assess land use/cover change. Present-day landscape was chosen as the core unit of LUCC classification, because it comprises various aspects of natural and socio-economic environment.