Environmental assessment of the territories on the example of municipalities of the Smolensk region

Abstract

The article discusses the experience of environmental assessment at the global and regional levels. The methodology for assessing the environmental situation at the municipal level of the model research region — Smolensk region. To obtain the pollution index, we used indicators of emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, the discharge of polluted wastewater and the generation of municipal solid waste. The choice of the first two indicators was determined by their impact on the health status of the population, and the formation of municipal solid waste is a significant factor in the pollution of environmental components. A comparative analysis of the environmental situation in the municipalities of the Smolensk region showed the effectiveness of the methodology used, which is associated with the availability of source data for analysis, the information content of indicators, taking into account the population and the area of the pollution area. The results revealed a gap in the values of the indices in the analysis of individual components and a set of indicators. Application of the methodology can contribute to the formulation of goals and objectives of strategies for the socio-economic development of regions and municipalities, and measures to improve the environment.

Health disparities in Russia at the regional and global scales

“…For calculation of the PHI, an evaluative algorithm was developed by one of the authors [ 49 ]. The normalization of initial indicators is achieved by the following formula: where is the worst value (for each indicator), in terms of the impact on the population health in the regions of Russia (the maximum infant mortality rate, lowest life expectancy);…”

“…The threshold followed by a sharp increase in heterogeneity can be optimally taken as the final number of clusters. The algorithm was originally described in [ 49 ] and has been tested in previous studies [ 30 , 40 , 50 ]. In this study, the dynamics of health status in Russia and in the world for 1990–2017 were revealed according to the calculation of the PHI.…”

“…Index calculation and typological ranking was made by algorithm, elaborated by one of the authors [ 49 ]. Trend analysis was performed by R software (package ‘trend’).…”