Approaches to the anthropogenic impact assessment at municipal level (the case of Baikal natural territory)

The article substantiates a system of indicators for assessing the anthropogenic impact at the level of municipalities, taking into account the specifics of the Baikal Natural Territory (BNT). It also help to asses estimated indicators for the level of individual settlements in the central ecological zone of the BNT. The structure of the integral indicator reflects the components of the spatial distribution of the anthropogenic pressure that made it possible to carry out an appropriate typology of the municipal districts of the BNT. Calculation of indicators that are absent in official statistics for the level of settlements was conducted on the basis of data on the population and vehicle fleet using GIS technologies which made it possible to assess the anthropogenic impact in urban districts, municipal districts and rural settlements of the central ecological zone. A general decrease in most environmental indicators of anthropogenic impact was revealed. It was also revealed that gradual alignment of territorial proportions is present when the localization of impact in individual municipalities in 2014– 2020. The use of the integral index of anthropogenic impact made it possible to assess trends in the ecological zones of the BNT. The level of impact in the central zone varies the most across the territory and seasons, in the buffer zone there are contrasts between socio-economically close areas, and in the zone of atmospheric influence the impact is concentrated in the largest cities. A gradual weakening of the role of industrial specialization in the formation of the ecological situation as well as a simplification of the structure of types of impact within the regions are shown. However, two significant areas of impact on Baikal (Irkutsk and South Buryat) remain stable. The main changes occur in the group of regions with a medium level of anthropogenic impact as a result of the implementation of major infrastructure projects.