Palapa N. Scientific rationale for sustainable development of rural residential areas

This thesis deals with scientific rationale for sustainable development of rural residential areas, which includes social, economic and ecological aspects. Problems of sustainable development were studied in Ukrainian and European rural areas. It was found that often they were very similar: depopulation of rural areas, migration of young people from rural to urban areas, weakening of the agricultural industry, pollution of the environment and loss of biodiversity, unsustainable land use etc. The social-demographical evaluation of the rural areas' state was made. The methods for environmental assessment of rural areas were developed. They include the analyses of soil, plant material and drinking water. The proposed methods are based on national and international standards. A new agroecological monitoring system was developed. Besides the main indicators of soil, water and plant material quality the proposed systems deals with farm consulting and implementing the "green" solutions. The sources of drinking water contamination were defined. It was found that the soils in rural residential areas were rich in labile P and K: 98 ? 5375 and 48 ? 2584 mg kg-1 respectively. The drinking water did not match the quality standards - the concentrations of Cl- and NO3- were several times higher than maximum limit allowed. The plant material was polluted with nitrates and heavy metals.