NATURAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF A TERRITORY IN THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM

Abstract

In the context of the transformation of organizational-and-economic relations in the field of nature management inthe post-Soviet period and given the integration of Russia into the global economic space, studies on the approaches to measuring thecontribution of natural resources to the development of the country and its regions come to the fore. Given the turbulence in the worldeconomy, the rational use of natural resources is the foundation for the stability of regions. Economic assessment of natural resourcesis becoming one of the main tools for environmental management. The concept of sustainable development adopted in Russia is basedon maintaining the sustainable use of natural capital (NC). At the same time, the principles of rational environmental managementenshrined in Russian legislation imply assessment of the natural resource potential (NRP) of territories. The seeming similarity allowsthese terms to be viewed as synonyms. An analysis of various understandings and approaches to economic assessment of natural resources as well as significant experience in solving practical problems made it possible to establish differences between NRP and NC, which are spatiotemporal innature. Moreover, the concept of NC organically complements the theoretical foundations of geographical research on NRP since itallows assessment of the results of its use at the current moment of time.The research hypothesis suggests that the concept of NC should be considered as a logical continuation of NRP research interms of the rational environmental management theory development in the conditions of market competition.The study aims to clarify and develop the conceptual and methodological apparatus for assessing the socio-economic resultsof environmental management of a territory in modern conditions and to identify differences and connections in theoretical and methodological approaches to the assessment of NRP and NC.In the study, logical and comparative analysis methods were used. Economic methods for assessing natural resources wereapplied to substantiate the findings.Considering the concept of NC as an evolutionary development of the theory of rational nature management allows harmonizing the theoretical foundations of environmental management formed in Russia with the concept of sustainable development.