Characteristics of the urban environment in and issues in the creation of a green shield around the city of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia

This paper addresses issues of beautifying the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, and boosting nature conservation in that city. An insight is provided into the following characteristics of the city's socio-economic and environmental development: the prevalence of haphazard rather than consistent patterns in the development of the living environment of Makhachkala residents and an extreme lack of funding for nature conservation activities. The four key sites within Makhachkala's potential "green shield" are (1) Eltav Forest in the northwest; (2) the Caspian Sea with its sandy beaches in the northeast; (3) Lake Ak-Gel in the southeast; (4) Tarki-Tau Mountain in the southwest. The need is stressed for creative management decisions that will take full account of the ethnocultural and ethnopsychological characteristics of the city's urban environment.