MONETIZATION OF CERTAIN ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (BENEFITS) OF NATURAL SYSTEMS OF THE NORTHWESTERN BLACK SEA SHELF

Abstract

Ecosystem services are all the useful resources and benefits that modern humanity can receive from nature (both material and non-material benefits from abiogenic and biogenic components of various natural systems). Monetization of ecosystem services is important for improving the situation in the field of environmental protection, serving as the basis for making informed management decisions, as they allow determining the losses from their irrational use, justifying the economic efficiency of investments in environmental protection activities, comparing the costs and benefits of the services provided, and calculating the amount of compensation payments. At the same time, a number of scientists are against “assigning a price tag” to the wealth of nature, believing that the value of nature is infinite and cannot be expressed in monetary terms, and evaluating its individual elements is simply absurd. The magnitude of the natural resource potential, which is an element of social (national or regional) wealth, can be quantitatively represented only through cost indicators in the so-called national cadastral or world prices. the city's land cover, the territory of which is characterized by quite diverse soil and geochemical conditions. The purpose of the work is to monetize individual ecosystem services (useful properties) of natural systems of the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea. The work is based on the analysis of published data of domestic and foreign scientists, as well as on the materials of their own research. The authors characterized individual ecosystem services (useful properties) of natural systems of the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea, and also made an attempt to economically evaluate them based on existing information on market prices. Despite the oriented assessment of the value of some ecosystem services (useful properties) of natural systems of the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea, they show their significant importance for the development of the economy of the coastal regions of Ukraine. The cost assessment of some ecosystem services (useful properties) of natural systems in war conditions is associated with certain difficulties, but even based on minimal values, the problems of their restoration and the prospects for their assimilation can be a significant contribution to the economic potential of the state. The maximum value falls on hydrocarbon resources, in particular on natural gas reserves, but since only 4% of the forecast reserves of hydrocarbon resources have been explored, in the future the cost assessment of hydrocarbon resources may be significantly increased, and therefore the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits in the post-war period is an important task of ensuring the energy security of the state. Providing an economic assessment of some ecosystem services (maintenance, regulation, cultural) is a difficult task, but they are also very important components of the natural resource potential of the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea.