The dissertation is devoted to the methodology of border land monitoring on the example of the Carpathian Euroregion. The object of study is the lands of the Carpathian Euroregion boundary territories in terms of their impact on the environment (agricultural, forestry and water resources).
The paper analyzes the current trends in sustainable land development in the border regions. Comparison of global Sustainable Development Goals with national targets for conservation and restoration of land and water ecosystems was made.
The process of involving Ukraine in cross-border cooperation in the form of Euro-regions has been going on for almost 20 years. Today, there are 10 Euroregions in Ukraine, comprising 16 regions, covering border areas almost all over the country. The Euroregions include three eastern oblasts, five western, three northern and four southern oblasts of Ukraine. Euroregions in Ukraine were created through integration with Poland, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, the Russian Federation and other countries.
Identification of dominant types of land use from the point of view of ecological balance of the region shows that in the structure of the lands of the Carpathian Euroregion, by area are dominating agricultural and forestry lands, which are at the same time structural units of the national ecological network. The water fund lands are also part of the ecosystem and are recognized as the most significant in terms of environmental stability, taking into account the basin principle of the organization of coastal geosystems.
Cause and effect relationships of anthropogenic load on dominant land uses have been identified and structural and functional models of the impact of such load on the ecological status of the regions have been constructed.
The types of anthropogenic loading are considered in detail in the studied land categories. For agricultural lands, the main ones are: excessive mechanical cultivation, inefficient agricultural land reclamation, excessive fertilizer application; for forestry lands: clearing, felling of the forest, forest clearing, and disturbance of the forest structure; for the water fund land: discharge of wastewater, illegal construction in coastal protection arias, mining, ineffective hydraulic and reclamation measures. For all considered land use types, the negative impact of built-up areas is calculated. As a result, a simulation model of ecological destabilization of regions was developed.
Based on the research of the factors that determine the feasibility of the formation and functioning of the Euroregions, the structure of land use of the Carpathian Euroregion and the Carpathian region, features of dominant types of land use a SWOT analysis of the potential of ecological stability of the Carpathian region is conducted, which illustrates the positive properties of the natural resources potential, the potential of its development and weaknesses and threats of environmental destabilization.
A conceptual model of land monitoring of cross-border regions has been developed, which includes a clearly defined sequence of implementation of the five stages: preparatory, collection and processing, information, analytical and advisory. The main stage is the preparatory stage, which is dominant land uses are determined, in terms of environmental impact and regional impact indicators.
During research process, monitoring indicators were identified, the impact of which was assessed through the interdependence of the components, taking into account the recommendations of the European Environment Agency. Depending on the role of the indicator in the assessment of a particular issue, they are divided into: Driving forces - Pressure - State - Impact - Response ("DPSIR").
For use of certain degrees of danger of various manifestations of environmental pollution, by displaying their indicators in the geoinformation system, their ranking was carried out, which is based on a 5 point scale. Rank "5" was assigned to the indicators that characterize the best condition of the land by the corresponding indicator, rank "1" - in contrast to the indicators that characterize the worst condition. Rank "3" was assigned to indicators that relate to the current state (State) and which can reflect trends in environmental change. This condition is defined as a boundary to a negative, which can become critical. This state is in fact a signal for particular attention from society and the introduction of measures to reduce the negative impact.
Methods for monitoring indicators of dominant land uses, structured in terms of sources and mechanisms for obtaining information, and a structural and functional model of information support for monitoring of land in border areas has been constructed.
We had proposed conceptual model of geoinformation system of the Carpathian region that was developed based on MapInfo for testing our approaches.
