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 in
the post-Soviet period and given the integration of Russia into the global economic space, studies on the approaches to measuring the
contribution of natural resources to the development of the country and its regions come to the fore. Given the turbulence in the world
economy, the rational use of natural resources is the foundation for the stability of regions. Economic assessment of natural resources
is becoming one of the main tools for environmental management. The concept of sustainable development adopted in Russia is based
on maintaining the sustainable use of natural capital (NC). At the same time, the principles of rational environmental management
enshrined in Russian legislation imply assessment of the natural resource potential (NRP) of territories. The seeming similarity allows
these 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 in
nature. Moreover, the concept of NC organically complements the theoretical foundations of geographical research on NRP since it
allows 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 in
terms 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 results
of 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 were
applied 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.