The Experience of Approbation of Societal Land Value as a Basis for Ecological and Economic Assessment of Damage from Land Degradation
As a development of the ideas of ecological and economic assessment of land degradation, it is proposed to define the land societal value–a characteristic that simplifies the consideration of the environmental factor, including, in particular, ecosystem services in the final valuation indicators. An integral part of the societal value of agricultural land is the value of the basic properties of soil associated with agricultural production. To represent soil indicators in monetary values an “artificial commodity” as an analogue represented on an accessible market was proposed. Assessing societal value of lands for the Belgorod region showed a high contribution (up to 62%) of soil component to it. It is proposed that the category of the societal land value can be used as the basis for calculation of indicators of ecological and economic damage from land degradation.