The analysis of the principles and methods evaluation of environmental safety levels in regional context

Abstract

Comparison of regions of Ukraine according to relevant indicators and levels of environmental safety is the basis for developing a national strategy and organizing effective safety measures. The aim to determine priorities and to analyze the methodological bases of evaluation and differentiation of territorial areas according to the levels of environmental hazard. Conceptual and methodological basis for the assessment, analysis and forecasting of hazard levels of territories: integrated assessment methods, method of standardized indicators, risk assessment methods, weighting coefficient method in multiplicative and additive form, cluster method. The principles and methods for assessing the state of natural and man-made safety of the territory are generalized. The main approaches to ranking the regions of Ukraine for the levels of environmental hazards or environmental risks associated with them had analyzed. The approaches and criteria for assessing the ecological situation of heterogeneous in terms of functional purpose and scale of areas are proposed. We have discussed the reasons for a significant fluctuation of safety ratings of the regions and ways to overcome the methodological limitations of their definition. We have substantiated the introduction of the index of “urbogenicity” of the region, and considering the restorative possibilities of natural landscapes as the basis for stabilizing the ecological balance and compensating of negative man-made and urban influences. The clustering method that can consider the complexity of geosystems, the adaptive behavior of components, the sameness of ecological situation in the region as members of one group, were proposed to differentiate regions.