Environmental and Economic Assessment of Water Regulation Function of Rural Territories in the Republic of Komi

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development adopted in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 was a turning point in the understanding of the importance of “natural capital”, when emphasis on ecosystem services was marked. An important step in the development of the practical use of the concept of ecosystem services was the decision, which is based on three principles: recognition of the ecosystem value; carrying out its economic assessment and the development of mechanisms accounting for these benefits. The article presents the ecological and economic assessment of water regulating function of the northern region on the basis of methodology of Yu.V. Lebedev and I. A. Neklyudov based on the evaluation of average annual growth rate of groundwater flow of forested watersheds. The region is situated in the natural zones of tundra and taiga. As for taiga forests, their precipitation joins groundwater flow during the period of summer and autumn rains. The differentiation of the value of groundwater flow is determined by the topography, forest cover, wetlands and characteristics of timber stands. The calculation also concludes that wooded watersheds provide the territory with water (as a result of the growth of the underground part of the river flow) by 130-560 cubic meters per hectare of forested areas in the summer period; the annual volume of accumulated water per hectare in the region is 9915,6 million cubic meters, which may serve as a possible reserve of water in case of natural and man-made emergencies. The annual economic effect of water regulating role of forests is 3.5 billion rubles. This financial measure can be a starting point in assessing the damage from the loss of forested areas. The conducted evaluation is important because it provides specific data at the local level concerning forest ecosystem potential of keeping the amount of water differentiated by forestries

Keywords

• forestry
• ecosystem services
• water regulation function
• groundwater flow
• wooded watersheds
• percentage of forest area
• growth of groundwater runoff
• natural capital