COMPREHENSIVE ECOLOGICAL AND HYDROCHEMICAL ZONING OF THE MAINLAND PART OF THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC ZONE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE REGION SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The authors consider the main methodological approaches developed in Russia to the ecological zoning of the Arctic territory. This is important in the context of implementing the concept of the territory sustainable development. The authors propose to implement an approach of the comprehensive zoning of the mainland part of the Arctic zone according to the environmental stress degree of the territory. To implement this, the authors chose indicators that characterize the water ecosystems condition and the demographic load level.
The water quality of the rivers in the European part of the Russia Arctic zone belongs to the 3rd and 4th quality classes, of the rivers in the West Siberian part — to the 4th and 5th classes and of the rivers in the East Siberian part — to the 3rd quality class. The researchers have carried out a conditional scoring of the state of river ecosystems according to the water chemical composition stability. It has proved that most stretches of the Arctic rivers function under conditions of relative stability of the water chemical composition (characterized as “slightly disturbed”). The anthropogenic load level has been evaluated according to the modules of the chemical runoff of ammonium nitrogen, organic substances and oil products. The evaluation has shown that the anthropogenic load is characterized as “low” or “moderate” for the rivers of Eastern Siberia and “high” and “very high” for the river mouths of the Pechora basin and the rivers of Western Siberia.
The authors have implemented a comprehensive zoning of the Russian Arctic zone according to the environmental stress degree. The map shows that most of the river ecosystems in the Arctic zone are in a “relatively satisfactory” or “stressed” condition.
The results are of great importance and will be useful for predicting water quality and developing environmentally sound water protection measures aimed at preserving and restoring vulnerable river ecosystems in the Arctic region.

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