REGIONAL DIFFERENCES OF SOILS OF UKRAINE TO ASSESS THE COST OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Abstract

The article contains a theoretical generalization of the authors’ studies of regional soil differences in Ukraine. The purpose of the work is to assess regional differences in soil ecosystem services of Ukraine based on the analysis of the main characteristics of soils in terms of economic districts and administrative regions. Methods: statistical-analytical, cartographic, and ecological-economic. Results. The author has analyzed statistical data on soil characteristics contained in Ecological passports of all regions of Ukraine based on agrochemical certification for agricultural lands (every 5 years) and formed a bank of information resources for their environmental and economic assessment. Cartographic works have been developed illustrating the spatial differentiation of agricultural lands of Ukraine and the content of humus, easily hydrolyzed nitrogen, mobile phosphorus compounds, and mobile potassium compounds in soils. Based on the economic assessment of supply and regulatory ecosystem services of the arable soil layer (30 cm) of agricultural lands, these services (excluding the ecosystem component) were economically assessed for each of the regions of Ukraine and a corresponding map was created. A distinctive feature of the study is that the calculations take into account real economic indicators used by farmers in the regions, as they are covered in the environmental passports. Conclusions. The average cost of soil ecosystem services excluding the ecosystem component in Ukraine is $30,549/ha, while its value in terms of regions varies from $18,638/ha in the North-West Economic Region up to $36,110/ha—in the Prydniprovsky region.