Factors and Indicators of Enviromental Protection Assessment, Regional Aspect: Central Forest-Steppe of the European Part of Russia

The environmental management assessment factors and indicators is basis for ecosystems sustainability analyzing and the effectiveness of environmental measures. This article presents an analysis of these factors and indicators, taking into account the Central Forest-Steppe regional specifics. Three levels of factors and indicators have been identified for all protected areas: basic (taking into account quantitative and institutional characteristics, statistical and reporting information), medium (taking into account the impact of anthropogenic and abiotic factors, and information about the current ecological state), and maximum (taking into account long-term changes in ecosystems and providing strategic and predictive information). In areas with low forest cover, the "area of protected areas" indicator becomes less informative. The importance of spatial indicators (landscape connectivity, fragmentation coefficient, and protected area compactness index) is increasing. The second and third regional aspects will be the level of agricultural and recreational load. The formation of a system of factors and indicators of environmental management shows pronounced regional specificity, which is due to the mosaic of natural communities, the high degree of agricultural development, and the relatively low forest cover of the region. The typology of natural communities of the Voronezh Region and the applicability of factors and indicators of environmental management (for forest, steppe, and meadow-steppe, aquatic, and floodplain ecosystems) are presented. It is possible to create a unified regional system of protected areas that clearly defines the current biodiversity of the region and establishes reserves for its preservation by assessing the results of environmental management using the maximum level of indicators.